Become a Star - Chapter 224

“Huh? Huh? Mr. Chae Woo-Jin!”

Even before Kim Hak-Cheon could reach out and grab the actor, Chae Woo-Jin quickly opened his front door and hid inside the apartment. His actions contrasted with how he had been grumbling about being hungry moments ago.

“That idiot. He’s been staying home all day today and didn’t even wash his face.”

Hyun-Min slowly approached and explained his friend’s strange behavior.

They had no class today, so Woo-Jin had no reason to wash his face since he was just lazing around the house all day.

Hyun-Min gently rubbed his eyes as he spoke.

“I did wash my face this morning!”

Woo-Jin shouted from behind the door. He was listening and watching the people outside through a small gap in the door even after entering the apartment. Hyun-Min shrugged with an indifferent look and responded.

“Then come on out already. You need to go to the hospital and the police station for the investigation.”

Most of the incident had been broadcast live online, so even if it wasn’t on TV, the police would have no choice but to take the matter very seriously.

But before Woo-Jin went to the police station for their investigations, he urgently needed to go to the hospital to get treated.

“I’ll buy you pork belly on the way home.”

“Gimme a minute.”

The door closed firmly this time, and Woo-Jin headed further inside his apartment.

He had confidently shouted that he had washed his face, but it appeared he didn’t have the confidence to stand proudly in front of the camera and viewers in his current state.

“What did you say you’re gonna buy him?”

Kang Ho-Soo suddenly appeared from behind and asked Hyun-Min in an overbearing tone.

“I just said I’d buy food. I never said I’d let him eat it, though.”

A startled Hyun-Min hurriedly shook his head sideways. His cheeks vibrated as though he were on some electric massager.

It seemed that Woo-Jin, who had been eating greens almost exclusively these days, would only be able to get some nutritional supplements today without any meat.

The character of Lloyd looked frail and weak, so Woo-Jin couldn’t consume a lot of calories and exercise. Otherwise, he would look too healthy even if he were physically lean.

Therefore, he had no choice but to lose weight by limiting his food intake and not exercising.

As someone who had never gone on a diet before, if someone asked Woo-Jin when was the most challenging period in his career, he would confidently answer ‘right now.’

It wasn’t because of the stalker, the scandals, or the acting. The most challenging part was the diet.

“By the way, aren’t you broadcasting live right now? Shouldn’t you be talking and commenting a lot as the hosts?”

Hyun-Min avoided Kang Ho-Soo’s deathly gaze and turned to the MCs and film crew, who were staring blankly at their surroundings and not progressing with the show.

“We’re not strong enough mentally to host the show properly in this situation.”

Oh Young-Hee trembled as she recalled Lee Yeo-Rin’s gaze when the latter glared at her earlier.

Although they were still in the same space, the MC felt relieved now that the police officers had arrived.

“But everyone seems more relaxed about this than I expected.”

Kim Hak-Cheon remembered Hyun-Min as Chae Woo-Jin’s friend who had appeared on a TV show in the past. Thus, the host secretly tried to interview the friend on camera.

Although he was mentally weak, he could do anything if it were for his job.

“This is the first time someone got injured, but similar incidents have happened in the past already. So you can just imagine it as us filming horror movies every single day for these past few days.”

Hyun-Min then proceeded to sarcastically ask why he would move out of his perfectly good home and live in such a place. As he complained about his recent life, Oh Young-Hee nodded along exaggeratedly. Although she had said something along the lines of having weak mental strength, she too would continue working for her job when the perfect opportunity was handed to her on a silver platter.

“Woo-Jin moved out of his parents’ house because the stalker trespassed their home and stole some of their belongings. He was afraid that something similar could happen again and that his family would be in danger. So he moved to this new apartment to avoid his stalker but instead ended up living closer to her than ever.”

Hyun-Min spoke and clarified Woo-Jin’s situation even though he hadn’t been asked anything. And so the co-hosts were able to continue the broadcast with some ease in this complicated situation.

If they interviewed Chae Woo-Jin right now, they would be criticized for being too heartless and cruel, so it was a relief for the production crew that Hyun-Min was here to replace Woo-Jin for a moment.

However, the momentary peace was broken when the police asked Lee Yeo-Rin to follow them to the station to write up a statement.

“Who are you to tell me to follow you?! Who sent you here in the first place? Did that woman send you here to disturb us? I won’t go. I won’t follow you no matter what! Call his mother. Woo-Jin’s mother acknowledged our relationship! She also provided me this apartment and blessed us, so who are you to disturb us?! That woman ordered you to get in our way, didn’t she?”

Lee Yeo-Rin struggled against the cops holding her, but to no avail. She then screamed and declared that she wouldn’t let them be for this matter and that she’d sue them all.

Woo-Jin happened to leave his apartment at this exact moment after having washed his face and quickly changed his clothes. Needless to say, he heard the commotion and Lee Yeo-Rin’s claims.

“What’s that about my mother?” he asked.

“She allowed us to be together, so what are you so anxious about? Are you still afraid of that woman? Mother will take care of the woman bothering us, so don’t worry about anything.”

Lee Yeo-Rin continued spouting gibberish as she got dragged away by the officers. Woo-Jin then turned to Hyun-Min, asking whether his friend knew what the stalker was talking about.

“Isn’t it obvious? She’s just crazy in the head and spouting nonsense.”

“But who does she mean by ‘that woman?’” Woo-Jin asked.

Even if Lee Yeo-Rin had fallen into the illusion that Woo-Jin’s mother had acknowledged their relationship, he had no idea who Lee Yeo-Rin meant when she shouted ‘that woman’ with such hatred and malice.

“Why are you taking her so seriously? If she’s been having an imaginary relationship with you, then there must be rivals in her mind as well.”

If she firmly believed that Woo-Jin’s lines in his movies and series were addressed to her, then Lee Yeo-Rin would most definitely have some imaginary rivals as well. She needed an enemy to defeat, just like how there were very few TV series and movies with no antagonists.

“Maybe she was talking about me?”

Oh Young-Hee, who had been misunderstood by Lee Yeo-Rin earlier, touched her chin as she pondered before speaking in a serious tone.

Considering how Lee Yeo-Rin was about to attack her with a knife, her theory didn’t sound ridiculous.

“That could be it.”

Surprisingly, everyone agreed simultaneously as Oh Young-Hee’s hypothesis was somewhat convincing.

And the viewers who were watching everything live all over the country were screaming at their screens and frowning, exclaiming, ‘that can’t be!’

The chat was asking them to put aside such stupid thoughts and stop making a gag out of this. But unfortunately for them, the people on the scene who had seen Lee Yeo-Rin’s vicious gaze in person took Oh Young-Hee’s theory seriously.

“Why didn’t you wash your face properly? This is such a sloppy job. Oh, you even wore your shirt inside out.”

While the others pondered seriously, Hyun-Min pointed to Woo-Jin’s wet and dripping bangs while also noticing the tag behind the actor’s neck.

Woo-Jin rechecked his state before silently sneaking inside his apartment again.

The moment he went through the doorway, the last shot of Chae Woo-Jin’s face caught on camera showed a blush as he no longer had a poker face.

That evening’s broadcast of Charge! Open the door achieved the highest viewer ratings of the entire show and even perfectly captured the celebrity’s bewilderment as the producers had intended.

***

A shocking incident that astonished people around the country occurred last night. DSTV’s Charge! Open the door was visiting actor Chae Woo-Jin’s apartment when they unintentionally live-broadcasted a scene where a stalker was being stopped from harming herself.

After checking the security footage, the police concluded that Miss A (Female, 24) was indeed trying to injure herself and that minor injuries were inflicted on both parties when Chae Woo-Jin and his friend Mr. B tried to stop Miss A.

It is said that Chae Woo-Jin returned home during the night after getting treated at the hospital and getting investigated at the police station.

The actor says he has no intention of taking legal action against Miss A since the injury was inflicted in an unavoidable accident.

However, he submitted the security camera footage as evidence and reported Miss A as a stalker for her behavior towards Chae Woo-Jin every day.

Interestingly, during the course of this incident, a surprising piece of information was revealed.

It is said that Chae Woo-Jin already reported someone yesterday for trespassing and theft in his house. The trespasser is supposedly the owner of a social media account that has been a hot topic for the past few days.

Apparently, a mysterious thief broke into Chae Woo-Jin’s home earlier this year. That day, the thief stole some items the actor planned to throw away alongside a box of notes he had written to his younger sister for years.

They judged this crime to be the work of a stalker rather than a simple thief.

However, the actor could not report the incident as it was difficult to identify the culprit on their security footage.

But after inspecting the photos uploaded on this social media account and confirming that the stolen items and notes were featured in the pictures, Chae Woo-Jin speculated that the account’s owner was the problematic stalker and reported it.

Surprisingly, during the police investigation, it was revealed that the account’s owner and Miss A were the same person.

The police then judged that these two cases were linked and considered it one big case, announcing that they planned to investigate Miss A in depth.

However, one issue still needs to be explored from a different perspective.

This starts with the question of who is the ‘mother’ that Miss A spoke of during the live broadcast last night.

Chae Woo-Jin himself, as well as the viewers, obviously thought of the actor’s biological mother. But some doubts shall now be raised regarding this topic from here on out.

People have dismissed Miss A’s words as a lie or a mental problem, but I can’t help but doubt those hypotheses when I recall a specific scene I witnessed a while ago. This issue needs to be addressed because of the existence of Kim Hye-Ryeong.

As many people already know, Kim Hye-Ryeong, a once-famous actress, is currently married to Chae Woo-Jin’s biological father. Not long ago, I saw Kim Hye-Ryeong but didn’t manage to talk to her as she was conversing with someone else. Thus, I regretfully kept my mouth shut.

However, after watching the broadcast yesterday, I thought that Miss A looked somewhat familiar, so I looked up the photos I had taken that day.

Because of my habit as a reporter to instinctively taking pictures when seeing a celebrity, I also had pictures of the day I had seen Kim Hye-Ryeong.

And as I thought, the person sitting with Kim Hye-Ryeong was indeed Miss A. Their friendly atmosphere as they conversed cheerfully showed that they had met more than a couple times.

Therefore, I wondered if the ‘mother’ that Miss A was talking about was actually Kim Hye-Ryeong, so I inquired Chae Woo-Jin about this matter. In response, Chae Woo-Jin replied that he had not met his biological father and Kim Hye-Ryeong since he was 11 years old.

Thus, it is highly doubtful whether the stepmother of this estranged relationship would have the right to get involved with her stepson’s love life, even if she is his biological father’s wife.

Therefore, I hope the speculation that Kim Hye-Ryeong is the ‘mother’ Miss A mentioned is merely a foolish reporter’s misunderstanding.

Among the many articles published like crazy since dawn, the one that created an extensive discussion and debate was an article that raised doubts about the relationship between Kim Hye-Ryeong and Lee Yeo-Rin, whom they called Miss A.

Most of all, the subject that drew particular attention was the part where Chae Woo-Jin said he hadn’t met Kim Hye-Ryeong since he was 11 years old.

After Chae Woo-Jin’s parents divorced when he was eleven, his biological father remarried. But he got divorced again a few years later and got married to his third wife, Kim Hye-Ryeong.

Thus, the claim that Chae Woo-Jin had last met Kim Hye-Ryeong at the age of eleven held many meanings.

No matter how dense one was, one could easily guess that Chae Woo-Jin’s biological father and Kim Hye-Ryeong had a relationship since the actor was eleven or even before.

Simultaneously, opinions began to appear as to whether Chae Woo-Ra’s mother, who wasn’t known to the public, was actually Kim Hye-Ryeong, and whether she was the reason behind Chae Woo-Jin’s parents’ divorce.

Additionally, it became known that the social media account owner was Lee Yeo-Rin, and no one believed her to be Chae Woo-Jin’s girlfriend anymore.

Those who had witnessed the havoc Lee Yeo-Rin had caused the previous evening in real-time were horrified by the craze in her eyes and her desperate voice. In fact, these viewers still had chills today when thinking back on that broadcast.

Since it was a live broadcast, her face hadn’t been censored, and the VJ was so confused at the beginning that he made the mistake of capturing Lee Yeo-Rin’s face on camera very clearly.

As a result, people who knew Lee Yeo-Rin personally made their testimonies, and the scandal that she was Chae Woo-Jin’s lover was dismissed as an absurd rumor.

But after the first article questioning the relationship between Lee Yeo-Rin and Kim Hye-Ryeong was published, many follow-up articles that supported the theory started getting released one after another, as though they had been lying in wait for the opportune moment.

In addition, there were interviews with people who used to work at Chae Woo-Jin’s paternal family’s house a long time ago and even interviews with employees who had recently quit.

They tried to talk as little as possible, but they all unanimously said that Chae Woo-Jin was not seen at the house after his parents’ divorce.

They emphasized that Chae Woo-Jin had maintained a completely severed relationship with his paternal family.