Chapter: 06
“Grand Prize? Crazy. Am I really going to become a drama writer?”
Sara had only done it because she was jealous after hearing from Taekyung that Yoonseul was putting all her effort into preparing for the competition, intending to sabotage her. She had never imagined it would lead to such a huge result.
“Well, becoming a writer instead of an actress isn’t so bad either.”
With a triumphant expression, Sara checked her reflection in the mirror in the broadcasting station hallway before opening the conference room door she had been directed to.
“Hello. My name is Min Sara, and I’m the Grand Prize winner.”
She greeted the PD sitting there with a confident attitude.
She even gave him a fresh smile that would normally make any man melt, but the response she received was strangely cold.
What the hell? Is he impotent or something?
Annoyed, Sara wiped the smile from her face.
“Have a seat.”
The PD pointed to a chair in a stiff tone.
Sara sat down with a displeased expression.
The manuscript she had submitted was printed out on the table.
〈Insomnia – Min Sara〉
“Did you write this yourself?”
“Of course. But why are you asking…?”
Sensing that something was wrong, Sara let her voice trail off.
“There’s someone named Min Yoonseul who submitted exactly the same work.”
“What?”
Sara’s heart sank.
I even smashed the laptop and stomped on the backup USB until it was unusable, so how did this happen?
Sara darted her eyes around, desperately looking for a way out.
“Ah… My younger sister must have secretly submitted my writing. She’s had sticky fingers since she was young. I’ll talk to her properly and make sure this doesn’t cause any problems.”
As Sara tried to evade responsibility, the PD pushed up the glasses perched on his nose with an irritated expression.
“From what I can see, it seems to be the other way around.”
“What?”
“Didn’t you steal Min Yoonseul’s work?”
“How can you say something like that?”
Sara trembled and angrily snapped back.
“If you were going to steal it, you should have at least stolen it properly…”
The PD muttered as though she were pathetic, and Sara bit down hard on her lip.
“I got a good laugh when I put the two manuscripts side by side. Compared to Min Yoonseul’s manuscript, yours is at the level of a first draft.”
What? A first draft? That wasn’t the final version?
Sara’s mouth began to dry out as panic set in.
“Does having a higher level of completion prove that she didn’t steal it? She could have revised my stolen work and improved it.”
She had come thinking this was a place where she would be congratulated, yet they were treating her like a criminal and putting her down.
Sara’s face flushed red with anger.
“Really? Then I suppose Min Sara can also submit the entire collection of files from her writing process, just like Min Yoonseul.”
The PD roughly turned the laptop screen toward Sara’s face.
“Third draft, fourth draft, fifth draft, final revision. All the research files and the proposal, too. She even sent the original screenplay for the short film that the male protagonist makes within the story.”
“……”
“Min Sara can obviously submit those too, right? Since you wrote it yourself.”
Sara’s hands, hidden beneath the table, trembled violently.
“Our broadcasting station is about to be utterly humiliated because of you, Min Sara. We gave a Grand Prize to a stolen work. You’d better not even think about setting foot in this industry again.”
Faced with the PD’s cold accusation, Sara could not say a single word.
Exactly one week later, an announcement canceling the competition award was posted on the official DBS Broadcasting Station website.
[The Grand Prize-winning work, Insomnia, has been confirmed to have infringed upon and plagiarized another person’s intellectual property rights. Therefore, the award is hereby revoked…]
The unprecedented scandal caused an absolute uproar throughout writers’ communities.
When it was announced that no replacement winner would be selected, the aspiring writers who were furious about losing the opportunity all directed their anger at Sara.
[└ One spot got wasted because of that plagiarizing bitch. F*ck.
└ At least give the award to someone else. This is so damn frustrating.
└ Wow, I’m seriously crying blood. I spent months writing until I nearly died preparing for that competition, and now one spot is gone because of the woman who plagiarized?
└ People who plagiarize should seriously all just die.]
“Oppa, what am I supposed to do? What if they dox me?”
Sara clung to Taekyung and screamed as tears streamed down her face.
“It’ll pass soon. Give it a few days, and everything will quiet down as if nothing ever happened.”
“Min Yoonseul. That sly bitch. She planned this from the beginning. She hid all her files and even squeezed a two-million-won new laptop out of me. She’s a complete thief!”
“Sara. Think about it logically. How could Yoonseul possibly have known that you were going to steal her script?”
“Ah, I don’t know! Are you taking her side in front of me right now? You’re pissing me off!”
Sara had an inexplicably uneasy feeling.
“How could someone as sly as her not give me even the slightest hint? If she had told me beforehand, I wouldn’t have gone to the broadcasting station. She secretly submitted all those materials behind my back… What a scary bitch.”
“Don’t get worked up, Sara.”
“How am I supposed not to get worked up? I feel like I’ve been completely played in the palm of Min Yoonseul’s hand!”
“What does she say?”
“She says she didn’t know. She said the production company asked whether she had any materials, so she simply gave them everything. Apparently, they never even mentioned plagiarism to her.”
“Then she must be telling the truth, right? She’s always been bad at reading situations.”
Taekyung patted Sara and comforted her as she continued badmouthing Yoonseul, frothing at the mouth.
“If she were good at reading situations, how could she possibly have remained completely oblivious to you and me being together?”
At Taekyung’s words, the furrowed brow that had remained on Sara’s face slowly relaxed.
The thought that she was trampling all over Yoonseul made her feel much better.
Go ahead and act all high and mighty. Your boyfriend is with me right now.
Sara’s sulky expression gradually softened.
“Ah, whatever… I just want to have sex.”
Sara boldly climbed onto Taekyung’s thighs.
Seeing the excitement flicker in Taekyung’s eyes, Sara deliberately ran the tip of her tongue slowly along his throat.
She watched him swallow dryly.
With a smirk, Sara wrapped her arms around his neck and provocatively pressed her lips against his. He roughly pushed his tongue into her mouth.
As their kiss grew more intense, their saliva mixed and their breathing became ragged.
The fact that she was taking Yoonseul’s man made Sara’s body grow hot with excitement.
At that moment, Yoonseul received a call from Hansan Media.
They were calling to ask whether she would attend the awards ceremony scheduled for the following week.
Since you’re the Grand Prize winner, we’d really appreciate it if you could attend and honor us with your presence.
“I’ll attend.”
After ending the call, Yoonseul’s heart churned violently.
Under normal circumstances, she should have received this call exactly one year from now.
The work she had submitted at Junghee’s suggestion had won, and she had attended the awards ceremony to receive the prize, where she met her biological father, Chairman Jung Yoonjoon of Hansan Group, for the first time.
It had been the dramatic meeting with her father that Junghee had carefully orchestrated.
But Yoonseul had done nothing but hate her father until the day he died of pancreatic cancer.
Then, through Jin Seoyeon, Chairman Jung’s wife, who had come to deliver his inheritance, she finally learned about her father’s true feelings.
‘He wanted to hide it. I think he didn’t want the image of your father that Yoonseul would remember to be a sick man.’
She had learned far too late why he had stopped contacting her during the final months before his death.
For a long time, it had remained like a thorn in Yoonseul’s heart that she had continued rejecting her biological father because she had been deceived by Junghee’s honeyed words.
“Dad. Please wait just a little longer. This time, I’ll love you very much.”
As Yoonseul thought about the father she would soon meet, hot tears filled her eyes.
Knock, knock.
At the sound of the knock, Yoonseul quickly shook off her thoughts and wiped her eyes with her hand.
Junghee entered carrying a plate of beautifully sliced peaches and placed it on the desk.
“My daughter, aren’t you pushing yourself too hard these days? Is your work going well?”
Yoonseul scoffed inwardly.
Since she wasn’t volunteering any information herself, Junghee had obviously come to interrogate her directly.
“I think I’ll be able to give you some good news soon.”
“What kind of news could it be? I’m curious. Can’t you just tell Mom?”
In the past, as soon as Yoonseul received a call, she would run straight to Junghee and tell her about the award.
She could still vividly remember how genuinely happy Junghee had looked.
Yoonseul had mistakenly believed it was because Junghee cared about her.
But Junghee had simply been happy because everything was unfolding according to the plan she had designed.
“Later.”
Yoonseul replied with a cold smile, deliberately putting off the answer.
I can’t tell you yet, Mom.
Because this time, I’m going to steal away the first meeting with Dad that you carefully planned.
