Choi Yoon was born on a snowy day.

It was a difficult birth. The mother died immediately after giving birth.

The father cared for the baby whose birthday became his mother’s memorial day with utmost devotion.

The problem is that Choi Yoon killed even that father. Choi Yoon didn’t kill him directly, but provided the cause for his father’s death.

It happened when Choi Yoon was eight years old.

Sosul-ri, Jangcheon-gun. Choi Yoon, who was growing up brightly without worry in the small restaurant his father ran, heard strange rumors going around the village.

“They say a gumiho escaped.”

“I heard it’s gone mad and is killing people indiscriminately.”

“It’s a shapeshifter. They say the center caught it pretending to be human with its tail cut off, but it escaped during transport. They say it’s come this far…”

“Why is it coming here of all places?”

“Well. Maybe because our village is known to be good for supernatural creatures to live in…”

“Shapeshifters are different. Surely they don’t think we’d welcome criminals too?”

“Why is it killing people anyway?”

“Gumihos are known to go mad easily.”

“It’s understandable. Humans won’t leave gumihos alone.”

“Are you defending a murderer now? Who wouldn’t want to change their identity if they could? No matter what, you should live honestly as you were born!”

“Hmm, if a gumiho went around with its tail out, it’s obvious it would get kidnapped. I think I might disguise myself too…”

Father grasped Choi Yoon’s shoulders and admonished him several times.

Don’t go far from home.

Come back before the sun sets.

Run away if you see an unknown woman.

If Choi Yoon had kept even one of those, he would be living a different life now.

But Choi Yoon went far from home into the mountains while playing with other children, and met a strange woman as the sun was setting.

There was no special reason.

Just the curiosity that children that age might have. Immature judgment. A blind belief that everyone in the world would be as good as his father. The kindness ingrained from dealing with passing customers.

That was all.

The woman was beautiful. Choi Yoon was captivated at once.

He led her home without a chance to be wary of the woman’s tears, saying she was lost and hungry. It was the only restaurant in the village.

That’s how Choi Yoon lost his father.

The gumiho was shot dead by the army that arrived belatedly, only after harming half the villagers.

So, it was fate.

It’s not Choi Yoon’s fault that he came to hate gumihos. It was a misfortune too big for a child’s will to handle.

Born killing his mother and driving even his father to death, the eight-year-old boy left alone now broke out in cold sweat and felt a painful tightness in his chest just hearing the words gumiho or shapeshifter.

He couldn’t breathe.

It was the same for the villagers.

Long-time neighbors tried hard not to blame the child’s mistake, but it wasn’t easy.

Thus, when Choi Yoon left the village to live with relatives in Seoul, no neighbor saw him off.

The relative who took in Choi Yoon was quite wealthy. They were so busy that they had no time to care for the young dependent from the countryside.

So the housekeeper employed by that house came to take care of Choi Yoon entirely.

This housekeeper was skilled in housework, but had no talent for childcare.

She treated Choi Yoon like laundry or dishes. She fed and clothed him regularly, but never smiled at Choi Yoon or patted his head.

The wounded heart dried up lonely without a chance to heal.

He was materially more prosperous compared to when he lived alone with his father. But as days passed, Choi Yoon withered like a wilted flower.

It’s because of me that father died.

Is it okay for me alone to wear expensive clothes and eat delicious food in such a big house?

I shouldn’t be happy.

It was unbearable to live, feeling guilty just for being alive.

Surely God will punish me someday.

I must not forget my sin.

He couldn’t adjust at the new school he transferred to. He was out of place everywhere.

One day, while living with his heart tightly closed like that.

Choi Yoon’s life was turned upside down.

They said a guest was coming to the mansion. A very precious guest.

“The adults are talking, so stay quietly on the second floor out of sight.”

Choi Yoon did as the housekeeper told him. He didn’t even glance towards the first floor reception room where the guests were conversing.

The one who came up to the second floor was Lee Kang Woo.

The arrogant attitude of climbing the stairs without any hesitation as if the whole world was his home, the strangely cold face with soft lines, the fougère scent encompassing even his shadow, became Choi Yoon’s first memory of Lee Kang Woo.

He doesn’t seem human.

Like looking at a well-crafted artwork or precisely arranged machine, a strange sense of discomfort emanated from Lee Kang Woo’s entire body.

While Choi Yoon watched intently through the crack in his door, Lee Kang Woo gracefully strode down the second floor hallway as if gliding. His face looked bored to death.

He suddenly stopped in front of a display cabinet.

He picked up a slender wooden doll. He snapped its neck off.

Another one. Snap.

After rolling the two doll heads in his hand with a clatter, he put them back on the bodies switched.

A smile flitted across Lee Kang Woo’s cold face reflected in the cabinet glass and disappeared.

It was then. A man in a formal suit hurriedly came up and said in a low voice.

“Young master, the chairman is looking for you.”

Lee Kang Woo frowned slightly.

“How annoying. Doesn’t grandfather have a brain?”

“He says he wants to hear your opinion, sir. Please come down. You shouldn’t wander around someone else’s house like this…”

“If he wants to borrow my brain, tell him to rewrite his will first. Say he’ll give me the whole group, not just some measly affiliates.”

“Young master…”

The man bowed his head as if pleading, not knowing what to do. Lee Kang Woo brushed past him with an unpleasant face and went downstairs.

After confirming that the two had disappeared down the stairs, Choi Yoon quickly came out of the room.

He approached the display cabinet and put the doll heads back on their original bodies.

“What a useless thing to do.”

He turned around startled. He sat down, bumping his back against the cabinet. The wooden dolls clattered to the floor.

Lee Kang Woo had returned somehow. He approached Choi Yoon and stopped abruptly.

Without lowering his body even an inch, just looking down with his eyes, he opened his mouth again.

“Hello.”

Rather than a greeting, it was like poking an earthworm on the roadside with a twig to see if it’s alive.

Choi Yoon stared up at him, very tense. He couldn’t tell if he was a boy or a young man.

At the time, Lee Kang Woo was only in his teens, but he was enjoying overwhelmingly more than just being a student. Choi Yoon instinctively sensed that strange atmosphere.

Choi Yoon, who always walked with his head down, had no way of knowing that what the other was wearing was the uniform of a prestigious private middle school in the area.

“So you’re that kid?”

Lee Kang Woo muttered slowly.

“The one they say ate his mom and dad and is living off others.”

Choi Yoon didn’t answer, and Lee Kang Woo didn’t ask further.

As if he hadn’t expected a response in the first place, Lee Kang Woo knelt on one knee with an indifferent face. Before Choi Yoon could move away, his chin was grasped.

Lee Kang Woo firmly held Choi Yoon’s face with his fingertips and slowly turned it.

A strange light flickered in Lee Kang Woo’s pupils as they reflected Choi Yoon’s frightened face.

“How pretty.”

At the time, Choi Yoon was eight years old, and Lee Kang Woo was sixteen.

Lee Kang Woo was the son of a chaebol family, growing up enjoying a carefully selected environment from birth. He naturally developed discerning eyes and had innate sense.

So the moment he first saw Choi Yoon, Lee Kang Woo knew instinctively.

This kid is a rough gem.

The child had a unique atmosphere. It drew people in instantly. It had the power to make one unconsciously kneel to meet the child’s eye level, and aroused a thirst to receive his gaze even if it meant giving him candy.

The fact that no one had recognized that talent until now and left it neglected added to its value.

Now Lee Kang Woo would become a benefactor to this lonely child. He held a justification that couldn’t be betrayed. It was a good start.

“Do you want to try being a celebrity?”

But when Lee Kang Woo asked, Choi Yoon couldn’t answer.

He had no idea what this situation was all about.

But he was stiff, unable to even show it. Since his father died, every moment had been thin ice, to the point where he couldn’t even look around freely.

Lee Kang Woo’s eyes narrowed as he faced Choi Yoon, who was terrified.

He asked the same question differently.

“Do you want to try living like someone else?”

A flash of light crossed Choi Yoon’s eyes, which were stiff with tension.

Choi Yoon slowly raised his head. He looked straight up at Lee Kang Woo. It was the first accurate direct gaze since they met.

A slight smile played on Lee Kang Woo’s lips at the noble atmosphere those features held.

He whispered again.

“You become a different person every moment.”

Choi Yoon’s pupils dilated widely. He stared at Lee Kang Woo as if bewitched.

There was still no answer, but Lee Kang Woo knew the contract had been made.

He asked gently.

“Name.”

“Choi Yu Won…”

“That’s hard to pronounce. Let’s go with Yoon. Choi Yoon. How’s that?”

It was the beginning of their relationship.

Lee Kang Woo pushed Choi Yoon into the entertainment industry. To Lee Kang Woo, who already had so much, Choi Yoon was just a small business or fresh hobby. At first.

On the other hand, Choi Yoon thought he had been saved.

How long had he wished for this?

To become not myself.

The days when he hated himself so much for letting the gumiho into the village and driving his father to death, not knowing what to do, suddenly settled down soaked in brilliant colors. There was no time to be sad.

After finishing a hectic shoot, he was hungry. After eating hurriedly, he was sleepy. After a short nap, the murderous schedule repeated again.

A life that others would throw up their hands and run away from, Choi Yoon considered it an opportunity given by God.

He had hoped to forget his father, and himself who killed his father, and it finally seemed possible.

So acting had to be Choi Yoon’s calling. He acted to live.

He only came alive when living the life of someone other than himself. His airways opened and his limbs were free.

But when a project ended and he had to return to his original self, it was unbearably terrible. He desperately pushed himself to have no gaps. He craved roles and immersed himself in projects like an addict.

Lee Kang Woo’s eye for talent was right.

Compelling acting, elegant looks that drew people in. An accommodating attitude that never rebelled and completed all schedules in any situation.

And so, as soon as he stepped into the entertainment industry, Choi Yoon blossomed fully like wearing tailored clothes.

His subsequent career was also smooth. He drew a dazzling upward curve without losing strength.

However, the more he came to genuinely like acting, which he had used as an escape, the more Choi Yoon felt like he was sinking into a quagmire.

Immersing himself in roles like this was ultimately the same as abusing himself. He wanted acting to be a complete dream for him. He no longer wanted to use it as a tool.

Then he had to face the past squarely and save himself. He had to forgive himself.

Choi Yoon sought a way out.

He wanted to try a new role.

He wanted to act characters different from before, who overcome old guilt and reclaim their lives, who ultimately come to love themselves fully.

But there was a problem.

Lee Kang Woo.

“Yoon, I hear you’ve been personally receiving scripts lately?”

“Ah, yes. There’s Director Baek Mu Gil’s retirement work coming up, and I’d like to try it. It’s a story about a son who killed his father, and it reminds me of when I was young, so I thought it would be good to try. You know…”

“You must be crazy.”

“I’ve done everything the agency told me to do 365 days a year until now. Can’t I do just one thing I want to do?”

“Do you think I’m pouring money and lobbying for your self-realization? Get your head straight. If you don’t do the tentpole movie this summer, our company’s stock will hit bottom.”

“Please, hyung. When have I ever said I wanted to do something? This is the first time.”

“You seem to be seriously mistaken. I’m the one who put you at the top. Do you think you have the discernment to choose projects?”

“What are you saying now…”

“You’re nothing without me. Nothing.”

Only then did Choi Yoon look back on his life.

Lee Kang Woo, who was once a savior, had firmly bound Choi Yoon’s limbs with his own mark while Choi Yoon was busy completing schedules mindlessly.

Choi Yoon existed only within Lee Kang Woo’s perfect frame.

The two had spent too much time together. By the time he realized, it was already too late.

To act the roles he wanted, to live his own life, it wasn’t enough just to leave Lee Kang Woo’s agency.

Lee Kang Woo has a tight grip not only on the entertainment industry but also on the political and business circles of South Korea. The moment things go wrong with him, Choi Yoon will fall thoroughly.

Lee Kang Woo created Choi Yoon, and could break him anytime. He was that kind of person.

To escape Lee Kang Woo’s grasp and continue acting which he loved, he needed to get Lee Kang Woo’s weakness.

A very fatal weakness.