NOVGO.NET Chapter 55: Spread (1)
Translator: Dreamscribe
At a production company in Tokyo, Japan, An Ji-hee's name was suddenly brought up.
"She's an actress who won the Best Newcomer Award in the Short Film section at Korea's Busan International Film Festival, her name is An Ji-hee."
When An Ji-hee's name was thrown out, all of the dozen or so Japanese gathered there showed considerable interest.
"An Ji-hee? If she won a Best Newcomer Award, she must have had some activity beforehand, but I've never heard of her."
"Same here."
"Korea's Busan International Film Festival is one of the three biggest festivals in Asia, the kind even Hollywood pays attention to, right? Winning a Best Newcomer Award there is impressive."
In response to what several of them said, the woman in glasses who had brought up An Ji-hee's name added a clarification.
"It wasn't in the main category, it was the Best Newcomer Award in the Short Film section."
It wasn't 100%, but she shared what she had managed to research so far.
"More information will probably turn up if I dig deeper, but based on what I've confirmed up to now, An Ji-hee has no activity prior to the Best Newcomer Award. The reason seems to be that she debuted at the Busan International Film Festival itself."
At her words, the eyes of the Japanese gathered there widened slightly.
"She debuted at the Busan International Film Festival?"
"Yes. With no prior filmography, she seems to have debuted with a work submitted to the Busan International Film Festival. That's where she first appeared in the media and in the public eye. The film was titled 'Condensation'."
"So... she was an unknown, then debuted at the Busan International Film Festival and even won a Best Newcomer Award? Huh, quite an unusual trajectory."
Soon, exclamations of admiration came from among the Japanese.
"At least in Japan, there's no precedent for that kind of case, is there?"
"There isn't. As far as I know, anyway."
"Debuting on a stage that big and even winning an award... she must have made quite a stir, no?"
The woman in glasses nodded and spoke again.
"That's right. An Ji-hee seems to have become the talk of the town overnight thanks to this Busan International Film Festival. To begin with, the film 'Condensation' took the Grand Prize in the Short Film section, and including An Ji-hee, it swept a Triple Crown."
"Oooh..."
The woman in glasses, who had been reciting things about 'Condensation' from Korean articles, switched topics.
"This isn't all that important, but apparently one of the managers was also quite a topic."
"A manager?"
"From what I gathered, that manager was the one who orchestrated putting An Ji-hee in 'Condensation' and getting her to the Busan International Film Festival. As a result, it was thanks to that manager that 'Condensation' was able to win the Triple Crown."
"Impressive? That's an exceptionally talented manager."
The woman in glasses nodded and passed An Ji-hee's photo around to everyone. It wasn't an official profile photo but a full-body shot taken at BIFF. The moment they saw An Ji-hee's photo, interest spiked sharply among the Japanese.
"......I like the vibe she has."
"Right? It's not just that she's pretty... her face has this Korean, Eastern beauty to it."
"There's a kind of purity in it too... isn't this exactly the look we've been searching for?"
Slowly, they began to covet An Ji-hee. She fit the image they had been looking for remarkably well. At this, the woman in glasses who had brought up An Ji-hee opened her mouth again.
"Her acting will need a second look, but if she won a Best Newcomer Award at the Busan International Film Festival, she's been verified to a certain degree. Her public recognition has gone up because of it, but she's at the level of a hot newcomer at most, nothing earth-shattering. In Japan, of course, she's practically unknown. And as you can see, her looks have exactly the vibe we've been looking for."
The more they listened, the higher An Ji-hee's value climbed. In the end, An Ji-hee, who hadn't even been on the casting list, suddenly shot up to the number-one spot.
"She might already have a project lined up."
"We need to send the request as quickly as possible."
The woman in glasses calmly spoke in Japanese.
"For now, I'll do a bit more research on An Ji-hee. After that, I'll send our project information and a casting request for An Ji-hee to her agency. And since I have to head to Korea soon anyway for research, I'll meet An Ji-hee while I'm there."
"That sounds good."
When the discussion had been roughly wrapped up, the woman in glasses looked at An Ji-hee's photo on her laptop. Then she found her thoughts drifting less to An Ji-hee herself and more to the manager who had reportedly led her down the path to a breakthrough.
"I hope her manager takes an interest."
Morning of August 11th, Korea. Netflix Korea.
Netflix Korea was bustling from the morning. It was because of those gathered in the spacious meeting room with posters lining the walls. The writers, namely. Newcomers and veterans were mixed together. Six in total.
These writers were the ones selected for the 'One-Act Drama Project' that Netflix Korea was pushing with full force.
So among the writers...
'Whew... I've been to countless meetings like this, but sitting here as a writer feels different. Awkward.'
Oh Jong-man was among them too. Perhaps because of nerves, his already fierce face had grown even more intense. Because of that, the other writers sitting around him slightly misunderstood.
'What's with him? Is he in a bad mood?'
'Yikes! He made eye contact with me.'
How to put it, Oh Jong-man was quite the eye-catching figure here. His intense face played a part, but more than anything, it was the fact that he had once been a fairly well-known supporting-role actor. Coming to a writers' meeting and finding actor Oh Jong-man sitting there, of course every writer was surprised.
'At first I thought, is he a cast member? Never imagined he'd actually be a writer.'
'He's really a writer?? That's seriously unusual. Switching from actor to writer.'
The writers busily snuck glances at Oh Jong-man.
'How fascinating! A pretty famous actor turned writer!'
'Did he give up on acting? I remember he used to show up in this and that work pretty often back in the day... even with that incident, walking away from a filmography like his seems like such a waste.'
That said, no one openly spoke to him.
'Oh Jong-man... a writer. Once the 'One-Act Drama Project' opens up, this could become an issue. For better or worse.'
Feeling the writers' gazes inside the meeting room, Oh Jong-man's face hardened further. He gave off a gangster-like aura, but inside he was breaking out in a cold sweat.
'Stop! Please, just stop staring at me already.'
Around then, several more people came into the meeting room. They were Netflix Korea staff. At the head was the bald Executive Director Heo Seong-jin. After he gave appropriate greetings to the writers, Oh Jong-man included...
"Hello, I'm Heo Seong-jin, Executive Director of Netflix Korea."
He introduced a few executive-level staff. Finally, he gestured to the woman standing beside him.
"This is Director Baek Jeong-ha-nim, who will be helming this 'One-Act Drama Project'."
The woman called Director Baek Jeong-ha gave the writers a small bow. She was the director Netflix Korea had handpicked. In other words, the person who would handle the 'One-Act Drama Project' that they were running in earnest.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Baek Jeong-ha."
A slightly square jaw, with rough, dry skin. Her tone was a touch curt as well. Oh Jong-man was startled at the sight of Director Baek Jeong-ha.
'Director Baek Jeong-ha-nim... huh, she's the one helming the 'One-Act Drama Project'??'
The other writers all knew Director Baek Jeong-ha well too. Naturally, since Baek Jeong-ha was a major director with a fairly glittering filmography.
She was a somewhat unusual director.
A director who had a 10-Million-Viewer Film in her filmography yet had also taken on drama directing. Those dramas had all been hits. In short, Director Baek Jeong-ha was the type who moved freely between film and drama.
In any case, the fact that a heavyweight director was helming the 'One-Act Drama Project' was bound to puzzle the writers.
'No matter how serious Netflix is about pushing this project... it's still just a one-act, isn't it??'
Soon, as if she had read the look in the writers' eyes, Director Baek Jeong-ha let out a dry laugh.
"Whatever the project is, I tend to take it on if directing it looks like it'd be fun."
The 'One-Act Drama Project', where a single director had to handle all six one-acts. This was an uncommon arrangement even in the industry, and Director Baek Jeong-ha had decided to do it precisely because that arrangement intrigued her.
"Anyway, shall we kick off the first production meeting?"
"Six works in total. They may be one-acts, but they're all separate works, so the actors all have to be cast individually. That means we need a lot of actors, and during pre-production, I plan to start with actor recruitment first."
To the focused writers, Director Baek Jeong-ha emphasized:
"For your information, as you all know well, everything related to the 'One-Act Drama Project' is top secret until the time comes. Under no circumstances should anything be leaked to the outside."
"Writer Oh Jong-man-nim."
"...Yes, Director-nim."
Director Baek Jeong-ha smiled subtly as she looked at Oh Jong-man.
"I was surprised, a bit of a shame too in some ways. In any case, I'm rooting for you."
"Thank you."
She had already heard the story from Executive Director Heo Seong-jin, but Director Baek Jeong-ha kept her words about Oh Jong-man brief.
"For now... I've prepared a casting board for each work in advance, please take a look."
Director Baek Jeong-ha started with the talk of which actors to cast, and the writers, Oh Jong-man included, fixed their eyes on the tablets in front of them. The casting board featured various domestic actors. Around then, Oh Jong-man's eyes widened.
'Oh... quite a few familiar faces...... Ah.'
Because among the familiar actors on the casting board, two recently hot actresses were visible.
Yoon Da-yeon and An Ji-hee.
'Just like Manager Kang-nim said it would be.'
Since they were both actresses who had unquestionably become a hot topic recently, it wasn't strange that they were on the casting board. Kang Jae-ha had also given him a heads-up beforehand. Soon, Director Baek Jeong-ha began the briefing.
"We'll send out casting notices to every actor on the casting board, and regardless of an actor's public recognition, all of them will go through auditions. The auditions will be more about checking how they fit the role's image than about acting ability."
In that way, the first production meeting ran for about an hour, and a break was finally called. The writers all left, either to the bathroom or out of the meeting room, but Oh Jong-man stayed behind, and Director Baek Jeong-ha came over to him.
"Jong-man-ssi. No, I should call you Writer-nim now. Anyway, I'd like to talk with you in more detail. I've heard the gist, but how you ended up becoming a writer, whether you plan to keep writing going forward, things like that. But before that..."
She whispered softly to Oh Jong-man.
"How about taking part in this 'One-Act Drama Project' as an actor too?"
Night, the 'MEG' office.
Today there weren't many subordinates at 'MEG'. Only the yawning Cha Chung-hyeon was visible, with Kang Jae-ha sitting across from him. The absence of subordinates like Lee Chan-hoo was Jae-ha's intention.
Because right now, Cha Chung-hyeon, the accounts keeper, was reporting on Kang Jae-ha's, and MEG's financial state of affairs.
"Mm... the US Stock Market positions you mentioned have been wrapped up nicely."
"Good work."
"That much is easy for someone with brains like mine."
"Is sneaking in self-praise some kind of disease with you?"
Cha Chung-hyeon had quietly been doing a great deal of work. Not a single one of the subordinates was unimportant, but in a sense, Cha Chung-hyeon, the one who moved the money, played the most pivotal role.
"The 'MEG Entertainment' and 'FilmMEG' acquisitions have also been roughly settled, and..."
There were outflows, but there were inflows too. Cha Chung-hyeon continued his report with that hazy demeanor of his. Next came the talk of taxes. Kang Jae-ha gave a small smile as he watched Cha Chung-hyeon.
'He may look washed out, but he's handling what needs to be handled. Going by his energy alone, he seems to be enjoying this far more than back in the Mercenary Corps.'
Jae-ha was reminded of his Mercenary Corps days. Cha Chung-hyeon reporting on supplies and provisions. A scene similar to this one. But Cha Chung-hyeon's eyes now had more life in them.
Around then, Cha Chung-hyeon changed the subject.
"And then there's 'House of the Daytime Moon'."
He passed the tablet over to Kang Jae-ha, the Commander. On the tablet's screen, articles about 'House of the Daytime Moon', which had entered its second week of release, were on display.
《'House of the Daytime Moon' Approaching 4 Million Mark in Second Week of Release, Already an Industry First for a Domestic Animated Film!》
《[MovieTalk] 4 Million Viewers Practically Confirmed! 'House of the Daytime Moon' Has Made a Real Splash!》
《4 Million Viewers in Second Week of Release... Why the Public Is Captivated by 'House of the Daytime Moon'》
'House of the Daytime Moon' had already crossed 3 million viewers and was charging toward 4 million. Kang Jae-ha called to mind the Deja Vu of 'House of the Daytime Moon'.
'Already blew past the 3 million I saw in the Deja Vu long ago.'
Right now, 'House of the Daytime Moon' had set a one-of-a-kind record as a domestic animated film and was in the middle of an unprecedented box-office storm. Crossing 5 million viewers was no longer just a dream either. Of course, as time went on, it would keep setting new records.
Cha Chung-hyeon then pointed at the tablet with his index finger.
"For 'House of the Daytime Moon', where our 'MEG' is the Main Investor, putting the audience count at roughly 4 million up to this point. I ran a quick calculation."
Based on this much alone, Cha Chung-hyeon murmured how much profit would land in Kang Jae-ha's hands.
"Mm... I'd say it should come out to around 10 billion won."
*****
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