Top Star By Luck [EN]: Chapter 163

163

This is Korea.

Even in the movie industry, seniority matters, and those with more experience usually get the director’s chair. That’s just how it is.

‘Are you telling me to order Director Hwang Ui-seong to direct?’

Director Sim Seong-bo was reeling from the absurd suggestion, struggling to find the right words. Lee Min-gi sighed, as if he’d anticipated this reaction.

“Did you think I was that kind of person, Director? Asking you to produce first, even having you officiate my wedding, and then telling you to step aside because I found someone else? Some kind of snob?”

“Ah, no. Of course not.”

“I trust your abilities, Director. And also…”

Lee Min-gi turned to look at Director Hwang Ui-seong.

“Director Hwang Ui-seong has praised your work countless times.”

“He praised my work? Countless times?”

Just as Director Sim Seong-bo was about to hyperventilate, Director Hwang Ui-seong chimed in, reinforcing the statement.

“I felt like you were making the work you wanted to make. I watched it about three times.”

“……”

“I looked up your previous works too, and they were interesting.”

Director Sim Seong-bo’s jaw dropped at the words ‘watched it three times,’ and even ‘looked up your previous works.’

Then, it happened.

Director Sim Seong-bo, overwhelmed with excitement, collapsed to the side.

Like a fan who couldn’t handle Michael Jackson’s charismatic energy, he keeled over.

‘I can die happy.’

A fan overcome by being in front of his idol.

It was just that kind of situation.

“Would you like another cup of tea?”

Director Hwang Ui-seong didn’t seem to notice or care about the fanboy antics in front of him.

Instead.

“Director, I’ll make it for you, so please just sit there and don’t say weird things. Don’t torment people with weak hearts.”

“Hmm.”

He felt like Lee Min-gi had been a bit cold to him lately.

Hmm.

Did he accept the meeting invitation too readily?

Director Hwang Ui-seong pondered a thought that would make the person involved scoff in disbelief.

‘I should talk to him about it next time.’

Though there was no guarantee that the message would be fully understood.

Director Hwang found a new target to tease in place of Lee Min-gi.

“Director Sim.”

It was Director Sim Seong-bo.

Director Sim Seong-bo, who was sitting primly with both hands on his knees, trembled at Director Hwang Ui-seong’s voice.

“Y-yes, yes, yes!”

“Why are you stuttering? Do you have a tic? I can recommend a hospital for you to visit.”

“N-no, it’s not that.”

“If there’s a reason, you should tell me honestly.”

Director Sim Seong-bo could only blink, unsure whether to interpret it as concern or an interrogation.

“Director!”

Lee Min-gi reappeared, shaking a tea bag that Director Sim Seong-bo had brought from Europe.

“Ah, please don’t tease him so much.”

“I’m not teasing him.”

“You have a personality that’s easily misunderstood.”

“……”

Indeed, he had become colder.

Director Hwang Ui-seong missed the polite Lee Min-gi of the past a little.

* * *

[Manman-tu] became a mega-hit both domestically and internationally, sparking a global survival craze.

Among all the attention, the most prominent star was:

[What is Lee Min-gi’s next project?]

Lee Min-gi.

Recently, one unfortunate piece of news reached Lee Min-gi.

[Lee Min-gi fails to win Best Actor at the Baekryong Film Festival]

[Wins Popular Star Award, but with questionable looks.]

World star Lee Min-gi failed to win the Best Actor award at the Baekryong Film Festival.

It was a strange statement.

Before Lee Min-gi became a global star with Manman-tu, what had he been recognized for?

[If Lee Min-gi doesn’t get it for his acting, who will?]

Acting ability.

That acting ability blossomed like a flower when he met the outstanding genius director Hwang Ui-seong, but he still didn’t win the Best Actor award.

It was only natural that netizens were furious with the judges of the Baekryong Film Festival.

[Are you blind?]

[Fashion & Passion was so much fun]

[What do you have to film to get the Best Actor award if you can’t get it for that?]

[Did you do biased judging again?]

[You guys just teamed up with your own group and gave it to whoever you wanted to give it to]

The talk began.

As if Lee Min-gi had entrusted the award to the Baekryong Film Festival, anger exploded for the sole reason that he didn’t receive it.

In fact, the problem was the accumulation of past misdeeds.

[Don’t you know they’re famous for only giving awards to people in their faction?]

This wasn’t the first time the Baekryong Film Festival had done something like this.

[The most prestigious awards ceremony in Korea is a mess ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[I can understand hating Hwang Ui-seong, but sigh]

[Oh Kyung-wook’s latest work was fun, but is it good enough to push out Lee Min-gi and win the award?]

Criticism arose like wildfire.

Some people even went so far as to raise conspiracy theories.

[There’s a rumor that Lee Min-gi is being ostracized in the industry because he’s not a child actor or a film school graduate]

[They say they curse him for running away overseas because he couldn’t make it in Korea]

[They’re so jealous that a rookie actor is doing so well ㅋㅋ]

They just didn’t give him an award.

It wasn’t much different from the Baekryong Film Festival’s past actions.

But the target happened to be Lee Min-gi, and as a result, the Baekryong Film Festival’s awards controversy became news on portal sites.

Authority.

As cracks gradually appeared in the long-standing temple of authority.

[There was an argument between Director Oh Kyung-wook and Director Hwang Ui-seong on set?]

Finally, an article broke the news.

[Lee Min-gi said that he’s going to win an Oscar with Director Hwang Ui-seong, so Director Oh Kyung-wook should get out of the way]

[Really?]

[It’s already circulating as a rumor on the National Drama Gallery [online forum]]

It was said that the two star directors fought openly.

The gimmick itself was provocative, so it was only natural that the word spread quickly.

But why?

The netizens’ talk, which started with the Baekryong Film Festival controversy, had somehow come full circle and turned to the story of Lee Min-gi’s next project.

[Wow, what kind of amazing work did he bring that he’s talking about the Oscars?]

It was the story of the Oscars.

[Seems a bit arrogant]

[With Lee Min-gi’s name value and Hwang Ui-seong’s skills, it’s worth aiming for]

[But isn’t he just a domestic actor?]

In fact, he never said he would receive an Oscar for his next project.

Director Hwang Ui-seong had only said that he would receive it someday.

He never said that he would be filming his next project together.

But coincidentally, after the situation turned provocative, it became the accepted theory that Lee Min-gi was filming his next project with Director Hwang Ui-seong.

[But what is he filming?]

[Has there been any actor recruitment notice?]

Just as the public couldn’t quench their thirst for Lee Min-gi’s secretive moves.

An article was released at the right timing.

[Title: Pop star William Lockhart secretly visits Korea, meets with studio]

William Lockhart.

Studio.

Lee Min-gi.

Hwang Ui-seong.

All the keywords were in place.

[Worth aiming for an Oscar?]

* * *

A bustling studio.

The name of this place was, of course, Mayar Pictures.

Perhaps because he had some lingering regrets about filming [Manman-tu] with a low budget, he recently scraped together all the money he could find to create a multi-purpose indoor studio.

Before the filming of the work even began, the interior was busy moving equipment.

In the bustling studio, Lee Min-gi looked at his phone with a dumbfounded expression.

To be precise, at the articles on the portal site within it.

“……”

Lee Min-gi, who had been narrowing his eyes and diligently moving his fingers, finally opened his mouth.

“What fantasy novel is this being serialized in?”

Director Jin Joo-yeon, who was moving with a stack of books, tilted her head and asked.

“Did you read a web novel or something?”

“Director, it’s not that.”

Lee Min-gi showed his phone to Director Jin Joo-yeon and said.

“Our work. I think something strange has been reported about it?”

That’s right.

The screen of Lee Min-gi’s phone.

There, a netizen’s speculative scenario for this movie was unfolding.

[Title: Spoiler Alert) Lee Min-gi’s new movie is Conan [Detective Conan, a popular manga/anime series]]

Body: You know Lee Min-gi didn’t win an award at the Baekryong Film Festival, right?

So Lee Min-gi must be sharpening his knives right now.

How to film a work that will win an award properly.

Even newbies already know that he’s aiming for an Oscar in his next project, right? (Because Lee Min-gi himself said it).

If he’s reached the peak commercially, he needs to be recognized for his art now.

So he chose a musical movie that’s good for winning awards.

He scouted the person who he thinks is the best at filming this kind of thing among the directors he knows = Hwang Ui-seong.

But he lacks recognition overseas.

So he’s colluding with William Lockhart.

He’ll probably appear as a cameo in the work?

As William Lockhart himself.

I think there’s a good chance that Hollywood capital has already flowed in]

It was truly a fantasy novel.

‘I brought William Lockhart to get an Oscar?’

No.

He approached Lee Min-gi without any prior notice.

‘What musical.’

It’s true that the movie is centered around music.

But it was a light-year away from being a musical movie.

Not so much for genre reasons, but because William Lockhart himself is not a musical artist.

No, those kinds of speculations are fine.

Netizens exchanging speculations about unreleased works on the Internet is also one way to enjoy movies.

But.

[Star City Exclusive) An insider opens up about the filming of Lee Min-gi’s new work]

That was a bit ridiculous.

Lee Min-gi let out a small laugh and said.

“Director Jin, look at this.”

“What is it?”

“Our new work’s tabloid. They wrote that we’re aiming for the Chinese market without any basis? We haven’t even decided on a sales route yet.”

Director Jin Joo-yeon clicked her tongue in disbelief at Lee Min-gi’s dumbfounded words.

“I don’t know if they’re not afraid of being sued for writing articles like that.”

“They know it too. They know that if we demand a correction, we’ll be suspected of being guilty. We have to let it flow.”

It was a common occurrence.

Taking advantage of the fact that film companies have difficulty responding to gossip, they write articles first.

[Even if we protest, they often act like they’ve done us a favor by marketing for us and tell us to be grateful.]

Thinking of Director Seo Jeong-woo’s grumbling, Lee Min-gi muttered.

“The media is really sly. That’s why they’re called trash reporters.”

“That’s right. They only care about earning views. If a problem arises, it’s the reporter’s misconduct and the actor’s overreaction.”

“No, aside from all that, Director Hwang Ui-seong isn’t even the main director. Why do they believe it without any basis? Seong-bo could be filming it.”

Just as Director Jin Joo-yeon was about to continue speaking in a grumbling tone.

“That’s right……”

Director Sim Seong-bo, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation, said in a deflated voice.

“If it’s me and Director Hwang, people would usually believe that Director Hwang filmed it, right……?”

“Hey, Sim Seong-bo.”

“It’s okay. I can accept it. Because it’s Director Hwang……”

What was with that self-deprecation?

His shoulders were so slumped that Lee Min-gi couldn’t help but laugh.

‘He’s consistent.’

He tried to have the dignity of a star director after filming [Manman-tu], but that effort pitifully didn’t even last a few weeks, and he became noticeably weak-hearted.

Slap!

Director Jin Joo-yeon slapped him on the back and said.

“Hey, Sim Seong-bo, how many times have I told you? I think our honey’s works are more fun. Even more than the works Director Hwang Ui-seong filmed.”

“Ugh, but I’m not very confident in terms of artistry.”

“Your work is my work? If you whine more, you’re dead.”

“Yes.”

He’s henpecked [controlled by his wife].

But their words were sweet and affectionate.

As their honeymoon phase was still going strong, Lee Min-gi slipped away from the sight of them bickering like DLC [downloadable content, an add-on] in the studio.

He was worried about Director Sim Seong-bo being timid, but he wasn’t too worried.

Why?

‘Even if he’s like that, he’ll eventually show his skills properly when filming starts.’

Because he believed in him.

He saw the power he had on set.

If a colleague doesn’t believe in the same colleague, who will?

Of course, if he’s suppressed by Director Hwang Ui-seong on set, then he doesn’t know.

This was something that Lee Min-gi had to coordinate.

‘Director Hwang Ui-seong doesn’t decide everything unilaterally as I thought.’

The media’s thoughts may be a little different.

Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean that the situation had worsened.

‘I didn’t spend any money on promotion, but it’s already spreading everywhere.’

Because he was able to drastically reduce marketing costs.

Even though filming hadn’t started yet, anyone who knew a thing or two about movies knew about Lee Min-gi’s new work.

What the content was, which actors were cast, and how it was progressing.

Netizens were speculating about all of this as they pleased, becoming voluntary marketing employees.

‘I was really worried about how to proceed with marketing when filming a new work.’

It was a series of worries.

Which company to entrust it to.

How much to spend.

The mountain of worries disappeared neatly with one controversy.

‘I thought I was really unlucky when I had an argument at the awards ceremony, but I didn’t know it would be connected in this way.’

Indeed, it’s good to have luck.

Thinking so, he was about to move busily to install the studio equipment when.

“Excuse me.”

A woman stepped into the studio with light steps and said.

“Is this the audition site for actor Lee Min-gi’s new work?”

“Yes? You’ve come to the wrong place……”

Lee Min-gi was about to answer reflexively when.

“Ah.”

His expression brightened as he checked the face of the woman who had stepped in.

“Hana-ssi [honorific title].”

Joo Hana.

The female actor who filmed [Evergreen] with him a long time ago.

She appeared in the studio.

‘I’ve been with Hana-ssi for a long time.’

They only filmed one work by chance, but somehow they became members of the same group called [Neutral Zone].

And also.

“Since you’re here, let’s start the meeting right away.”

Furthermore, she became the female lead in this work.

Lee Min-gi repeatedly opened his mouth towards her.

“Today, we’re going to decide on the story of our new work.”

Whether it’s SF, romance, or a Western, let’s run with it.

Neutral Zone.

So that its starting point can be the Oscars.