Top Star By Luck [EN]: Chapter 29

29. Always Green

Lee Minki’s first official audition piece was decided.

[Always Green].

It was a crime thriller that went into production around this time and garnered quite a bit of attention.

What was the story again?

‘Wasn’t it about a detective who was also a murderer?’

The story was about a detective using his internal network to commit murders.

The highlight was the last scene.

‘The scene where he argues about what’s wrong with killing the people he killed was so impactful.’

The actor who played the main role was so skilled that I can still see it vividly in my head even if I close my eyes now.

But Lee Minki, the role he will play is not the main character.

A character with a role somewhere in the middle of the supporting roles, or even lower.

So.

“This is the perfect piece for you, Actor Lee!! An ordinary person who cooperates with the investigation—that’s practically a supporting role as good as the lead, isn’t it?”

It was an ordinary person.

A resident next door to the detective, who suspects his behavior and is innocently murdered.

In the story, the murderer’s motto was to only kill criminals, but here, he falls into self-contradiction by even killing an innocent civilian.

A role that can be said to be a key point in its own way.

The role itself is good.

‘The screen time is short, but if I do well, I can leave a strong impression.’

I’m satisfied.

I wanted to try playing a victim too.

It’s a shame that it’s a role that appears briefly and disappears, but what can a rookie afford to be picky about?

‘Yeah, it’s okay.’

The only problem was the person in front of Lee Minki, chattering excitedly.

“I’m so happy to be working with you, Actor Lee. Hahaha!”

“Haha……”

Lee Minki laughed it off at the loud voice of the person who would become his manager and help him in the future.

‘Was his name Park Hanmo?’

A unique name.

How can a person’s name be Park Hanmo?

‘On the way home, I want to wrap up a freshly made block of tofu and have a bowl with well-aged kimchi.’

Lee Minki barely swallowed the thought that came up to the end of his Adam’s apple.

Anyway, the person himself seemed okay.

Except that he talks a lot.

“I also watched the work you appeared in this time, Actor Lee. Campus Story? It was so fun that I binge-watched it from the first episode to the last episode in just two days on the weekend. It was a bit boring when you didn’t come out, but as soon as you appeared, the work suddenly became popular, right?”

A constant stream of chatter poured out of the mouth of Manager Park Hanmo, who was holding the steering wheel.

“I like all these youth works. I’ve watched almost all the sitcoms too. Works like ‘Breaking Through the Floor with a Low Kick’ [a popular Korean sitcom]. Haha.”

He talks a lot.

Lee Minki found it burdensome. The artificially refreshing air freshener scent in the car combined to make it even more burdensome.

It’s not a disadvantage for a person to talk a lot.

Rather, a lively personality can be seen as an advantage for a manager who has a tough job.

Because if the manager is depressed, the actor can’t help but lose energy.

But there is a disadvantage that people who talk a lot inevitably have.

It’s like they are less trustworthy even when they say the same thing.

‘I’ll have to discuss a lot about work in the future.’

I have to work together whether we match or not.

It doesn’t make sense for a rookie to suddenly complain about changing managers.

In the first place, it’s already something to be grateful for that a manager was suddenly assigned to a rookie, saying he was a promising prospect.

As expected, JC [the agency].

‘Maybe something will work out once we actually work together.’

Lee Minki asked him with the intention of creating a good relationship anyway.

“Excuse me, about this work.”

“You mean Always Green?”

“Yes, have you read the audition notice that was posted?”

“Of course. I probably read it before you did, Actor Lee. JC makes us memorize all the official notices when they come out.”

“……Really?”

“Huh? What is?”

“That you memorize the official notices when they come out. Do you really memorize them all?”

Park Hanmo tilted his head with a puzzled expression at Lee Minki’s question, which he had thrown out in surprise.

“Isn’t that too obvious? I think there were about twelve. Menuha, Coffee and You, Beautiful Dental Clinic, and then……”

The titles and contents of the official notices that Lee Minki had received flowed out of his mouth.

Lee Minki asked in surprise at the perfectly accurate content without even a slight error.

“How did you memorize all of that?”

“Hey, a manager can’t hold the title without understanding the work that the actor in charge is filming. Haha.”

It was such a natural voice.

An answer that came out without hesitation as if it would be a problem if he didn’t.

Lee Minki exclaimed at that.

‘As expected, it’s a first-class agency. JC makes the managers fully understand the contents of the work too.’

In some ways, it was a natural thing.

It’s the basics for a company to understand the work that the actor in charge is appearing in.

It would be more of a problem if they couldn’t do this.

But it wasn’t like that for Lee Minki.

‘My old agency’s CEO didn’t even know the title of the work I was appearing in!’

Literally, that’s because his old agency wasn’t like that.

Of course, a manager didn’t even exist.

There was an even bigger problem.

‘They made one employee take on all sorts of tasks, from sales to accounting to box packing to delivery, so one person would run away every few months. They don’t answer when I contact them, and when they do, they say they’ve changed jobs.’

Just thinking about it makes my teeth grind.

As Lee Minki was trembling, Manager Park Hanmo laughed coolly and turned his gaze to the rearview mirror and asked.

“It might be a bit late to ask this on the way to the audition. What do you think of this role, Actor Lee?”

“Hmm, well.”

Lee Minki looked out the window for a moment and then answered.

“A role that is difficult but worth challenging? I might fail.”

“Hey, but would you really fail?”

“The director is so famous. The work is good too. In my opinion, I think a lot of talented people will apply. I’m afraid I’ll get crushed there.”

“Haha, you don’t have to be so humble. You’ll do well because you’re Actor Lee.”

“What am I? I’m just a rookie who just finished one work.”

Lee Minki said with a smirk.

“I’m just going to do my best as much as I can.”

“I see. The best is always right.”

The next moment.

Manager Park Hanmo’s excited atmosphere calmed down a bit.

The moment he felt a little curiosity, he said.

“Actor Lee, this is just my opinion. I don’t mean it in a particularly bad way, but I don’t think you’ll fit that character very well.”

“Yes?”

It’s a sudden remark.

It sounds like a criticism in some ways.

‘Criticism between people who aren’t close?’

If you’re going to criticize, you’re going to criticize.

But weren’t we in the midst of awkwardly trying to resolve this atmosphere because we were half strangers?

As Lee Minki became slightly stiff, Manager Park Hanmo continued.

“The role you’re playing now isn’t bad either. But there’s a human chemistry between the actor and the role, right? Your role is a bit of a dry character.”

“That’s true.”

“What should I say about your character in my opinion? Um, that’s it!”

Manager Park Hanmo nodded as if he had found an answer that he himself could accept and said.

“If you’re playing a character, it should have a little more stimulating taste. Fiercely! A subtly permeating salty taste!”

“Hmm……”

Lee Minki couldn’t answer properly and trailed off.

‘Is my character that kind of taste?’

I don’t know.

But whether it’s true or not, there’s no harm in listening to other people’s perspectives.

Lee Minki felt a little grateful and said honestly.

“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind for my acting.”

“Haha, just let it go. You know your acting better than anyone else, Actor Lee.”

Manager Park Hanmo burst into laughter and continued.

“And I felt this when I met you, Actor Lee, but it seems like you can do anything? A chameleon! All-rounder! Hexagonal stats [meaning well-rounded in all aspects]! A thousand faces! And I heard you practice a lot?”

“……”

This person really talks a lot.

I was about to let it go in one ear because I thought I would be exhausted before I even arrived at the audition if I answered everything.

“Besides, trainer Kim Ahseong also brags about you at the company every day.”

“Brags about me?”

“Saying that he’s going to bring a super rookie to our company soon. He kept nagging us to roll out the red carpet.”

Ah.

Trainer Kim Ahseong also talked a lot.

“He said that if you make his protégé do strange things or treat him harshly, he’ll quit the company, so keep that in mind.”

“……”

He really talked a lot.

* * *

Crime thriller.

Literally a thriller genre with crime as its subject matter.

This genre, which is particularly popular in Korea, had one characteristic.

That is.

[If you can’t act even a little bit, you’re out]

The actors’ acting skills are more important than the story.

[Thrillers, you know. Because the plot itself is somewhat fixed, directing and acting are important.]

[No matter how great a director is, he can’t make a masterpiece with an actor who can’t act. Especially thrillers.]

Because of this, many rookies have their acting skills verified here, and since ancient times, there have been more than one or two people in the Korean film industry who have produced the best acting of their lives in this genre.

Another characteristic is that the people who filmed it keep filming it.

Anyway.

There was a director who showed a particularly artisan spirit in this crime thriller genre.

“Ahem.”

“Are you okay?”

“I guess I didn’t get enough sleep. My eyes are blurry.”

“That’s because Director Yeom keeps working even after he gets off work. Haha.”

That was Director Yeom Gwangho.

One of the leading workaholics in the Korean film industry.

The art director who worked with him in the same studio asked him.

“Director Yeom, aren’t you overworking yourself too much these days?”

“Hey, how can I work less? I can’t do it even if I want to do more.”

“You’ll ruin your health. You have to film for a long time.”

“I won’t care until I film a masterpiece.”

“Hey, you’re already Director Yeom, who we trust and watch. Your last work alone had 4 million viewers even though it was rated R, right?”

“Box office success is good, but other than that, I have to make something like [The Silence of the Lambs] in Korea so that I can feel relieved even if I’m buried in the tomb tomorrow.”

Director Yeom Gwangho.

He not only filmed crime movies, but he was also a person who put his soul into crime movies.

‘I want to leave a mark on the film industry.’

His goal is to put one work in the top 250 of the IMDb (world’s largest movie site) rankings.

The target value is high.

Therefore, he is very obsessed with details, and it is basic for him to try to touch even the smallest props in the work himself.

A virtually obsessive method.

But because of that, he often becomes a walking corpse during the filming period.

Perhaps because he knows this fact well.

The art director asked with a sense of respect as a business partner.

“Haha, but I don’t think you need to come to see these mediocre supporting role auditions yourself, Director.”

It was the story of this audition.

At those words, Director Yeom Gwangho waved his hand and said.

“The director should choose the actors.”

“That’s true if it’s an important role. But honestly, isn’t this a bit of an ambiguous role?”

When distributing the audition notice, the entire script is not sent.

Only the overall synopsis of the work and the role of the role. Maybe a little bit of a cut scene script here.

‘Others may not know. That this role is a position that doesn’t show its face for even 5 minutes in the work.’

He said that because he knew the inside story well as an insider, but Director Yeom answered as if asking what he was talking about.

“Hey, I can just look at it appropriately and pick them, but these people are all here with their lives on the line. How can a person do that?”

“Usually they don’t.”

“If you approach it with an ordinary mindset, you can only make ordinary movies.”

“Hehe, I can’t keep up with our Director Yeom’s passion.”

That’s how they were chatting in the meantime.

“Shh, it’s starting soon.”

It was already time for the audition.

Waiting for a moment, reducing the volume and waiting for the participant to step into the audition hall.

The art director asked just in case.

“What happened to that role last time?”

“Which role are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the role that Director Yeom deliberately didn’t pick and left behind. You seemed to be considering it as carefully as possible.”

“Ah, that role is.”

Director Yeom Gwangho paused as if choosing an answer and then said.

“I don’t know.”

The art director said as if he was dumbfounded.

“Still?”

“No, filming is not far away now.”

“That’s how important it is.”

“But.”

Director Yeom Gwangho said, stopping him from arguing further.

“Maybe we’ll find it today. If there’s someone who fits.”