Former Warrior Turns Into A Million-Dollar Actor [EN]: Chapter 114

Former Hero is a Million-Dollar Actor – Episode 114 (114/199)

To Stop the Spreading Flames (3)

* * *

At a certain officetel [a type of studio apartment] in Sangam-dong.

In a studio consisting of a small living room and four cramped rooms, the sound of assistant writers pounding on keyboards is the only thing lively.

Some are doing research, while others are writing script drafts. On the wall-mounted TV in the living room, their completed works are broadcast 24 hours a day.

“······Haa.”

An assistant writer, having just finished a scene, sighs silently.

Low pay, slave labor, idea mine.

This is the commonly known plight of drama assistant writers.

The physical labor is comparable to the game industry’s ‘crunch,’ where developers are exploited, but the pay for the mental stress is often meager.

In comparison, the situation of those working here is relatively better. Regardless of the head writer’s temper, they were paid properly.

Of course… that was until a few days ago. It’s all because the great commander’s mood has soured.

“Na So-hee.”

In the largest studio.

Yeo Jin-joo, with a short haircut and dragonfly glasses, who received the script from the assistant writer, speaks. She resembles the tenacious editor from a certain fashion film.

“Y-Yes?”

“Is this what you’ve written? I’ve told you before, novels and screenplays are different. But what is this brick house you’ve built with narration?”

“Well… since it’s my first time with legal dramas, it was difficult to develop the story with the logline you gave me, writer…”

The assistant writer answers, swallowing a hiccup. Yeo Jin-joo’s eyes, lined heavily with black eyeliner, narrow sharply.

“Does that mean you can do this kind of thing just because it’s difficult? Or are you just going to write it roughly and ask the broadcasting station to assign a script doctor? If that’s the case, just pack your bags and leave. Give an interview saying you can’t learn under a female writer.”

“No! I’ll do it!”

“Bring me a proper one by tomorrow. And tell Choi Yu-ri to organize the data and bring it to me by two o’clock.”

“Yes! Oh, and I received a call from JNBC’s PD [Production Director] Na Jong-mo.”

“Na PD? What did he say?”

“The original author is raising a complaint, saying we should reduce the adaptation even in the next episode…”

She touched a nerve.

While the eavesdropping assistant writers despair, Yeo Jin-joo’s eyebrows shoot up above her glasses.

“What if they complain?”

“······Yes?”

“What are they going to do? Sue me, or come and grab me by the hair? I’m the screenwriter. If they’re so upset, they can adapt it themselves and sign a contract. How dare a clown who just sells books look down on the drama scene?”

The assistant writer lowers her eyes. If they displease their teacher and employer, that villain who churns out hit after hit, their desk will be gone the next day.

“Kim Yu-ri, Moon Ah-reum, do you two have any complaints?”

“No, we don’t!”

“Not at all!”

At the sharp shout, the assistant writers outside the door chorus in unison.

An assistant writer is just another name for an unpaid aspirant. For those who endure with the dream of making their debut, Yeo Jin-joo may hurl abuse, but she pays them properly.

“Tell them to come directly if they have something to say. People who haven’t suffered are just whining.”

Yeo Jin-joo is an icon of self-made success. In the early days of JNBC, she turned the struggling cable channel, which was faltering in the gap between terrestrial broadcasts, into a respectable drama powerhouse.

There’s even a saying that she built one of the pillars of the Sangam-dong headquarters. In fact, a certain entertainment magazine even compared the careers of the two writers.

[Broadcast Writer VS Web Novel Writer, Which One Will Win?]

What about Yoonbal25? This side has one mega-hit, and the other works have also been consecutive home runs, continuing the hit streak.

However… fundamentally, writers who have worked in broadcasting have high standards. Even more so if they are popular writers who have actors, directors, and broadcasting station officials fawning over them.

“Just go, it’s distracting.”

Yeo Jin-joo waved her hand as if shooing away a bug, but the assistant writer hesitated and muttered.

“···Um, I have something else to tell you.”

“You have until I count to five. One, two, three…”

“Park Geon! Actor Park Geon contacted us directly!”

People in the broadcasting industry are quicker to catch on than thousand-year-old imugi [a Korean mythical serpent said to transform into a dragon]. Yeo Jin-joo clicked her tongue as if she understood.

“What did he say? Is he coming to see me?”

“No… he just said the script was really interesting and asked us to take good care of him in the future?”

“······What?”

It’s different from what she expected. A look of bewilderment crosses Yeo Jin-joo’s face for the first time.

That’s how things work in this industry. If the director comes, the actor comes too, and if the actor comes, the director comes too.

She knows through sources that Park Geon and Yoonbal25 met on set.

She thought he would ask for something on the writer’s behalf, but his reaction is surprisingly cool.

“···What are these people thinking?”

*

At a filming studio in Yeoksam-dong.

Park Seon, covering one ear and holding a smartphone to the other, checks his wristwatch.

-…so, I was wondering if you were interested….

“Ah, yes! But my schedule is full until this week, so I think we’ll have to look at it again. Can I discuss it with the company and get back to you?”

After confirming that the call with the agency has ended, Park Seon takes out a throat lozenge and puts it in his mouth. As he crunches it, a cool peppermint scent spreads.

This is the throat care secret he learned from Choi Pil-lip’s manager, Kim Young-tae, whom he recently became close with.

‘They say a manager’s mouth is busier than an actor’s mouth. When you’re a rookie, you’re busy greeting people, and when you become famous, you’re busy receiving greetings.’

They say that even if a popular actor’s manager had five bodies, it wouldn’t be enough.

Park Geon has already become too big. He’s starting to reach his limit, trying to handle meetings, schedule management, and even road manager duties alone.

“Ugh, so that’s why they have a separate road manager.”

Perhaps that’s why, recently, Director Lee Seong-cheol brought it up in passing.

‘Park Seon-ssi, how about joining the company altogether? The work you’re doing now is already at the team leader level, and it would be much easier if we assigned you a road manager.’

Park Seon is no slouch when it comes to reading the room. He intends to use him as a card to keep his brother in check in case of an emergency, in exchange for generous treatment.

‘Come to think of it, this contract renewal is….’

He agreed with CEO Noh Joong-man to extend it for one year, so he’s under Roman Entertainment until next summer.

EBC’s documentary and the first episode of “Rogue Returnees”, the conflict between the original author and the script adapter… there are complex problems everywhere, but today he needs to focus on today’s schedule.

“Manager-nim, would you like some coffee?”

Someone hands him a drink. It’s the female team leader who has been in meetings all day for today’s commercial shoot.

“Ah, thank you!”

“You’re welcome. But it’s really amazing. Who would have known we’d see this three-shot? It feels like a fan meeting, not today’s schedule.”

Was it called the brow of truth? The team leader’s face, giving a thumbs up, is overflowing with satisfaction.

“It’s all thanks to you, team leader. Please take good care of our actors until the end.”

“Of course! Please take good care of me too.”

Roman’s three actors have come to a different place today, not the “Rogue Returnees” set.

It’s a Hanjo Corporation schedule. It’s for a suit commercial and photoshoot for distribution brands.

‘…I never thought we’d end up filming with them.’

Hanjo Corporation.

Among Hanjo Group’s 60 or so affiliates, it’s the distribution sector, the strongest in the domestic fashion industry, boasting numerous luxury and semi-luxury brands such as Briosso, Napolo, and Zen Hugh.

As soon as the actors’ intentions were confirmed, CEO Noh moved quickly, and a meeting was scheduled in just a few days.

Perhaps it’s because the first step was smoothly taken with the location sponsorship for “Rogue Returnees”. The contract terms were also quite good.

CEO Noh Joong-man briefly conveyed.

‘They’re our representative players, I can’t let them be sent out to cheap brands and get criticized. The commercial director is also a veteran we’ve worked with several times, so it’ll be comfortable.’

The chaebol’s [family-owned conglomerate] three sons are filming a commercial for a chaebol affiliate.

The company can get title-level promotion for the hottest drama, and the actors can secure high guarantees and image, so it’s a win-win for each other.

Moreover, Roman’s trio, aren’t they top actors who would be leads in any drama? The number of staff and related personnel who followed to the set exceeds one hundred.

“Great, very good! Next, Park Geon-ssi, walk out this way… let’s go one more time with the feeling of focusing on the center!”

The director, who had filmed countless commercials for large corporations, shouted excitedly.

Today’s shooting concept is an indoor fashion show. The filming team’s art director has created a runway set with three branches, almost like a real show, in the studio.

Roman’s three brothers from “Rogue Returnees” will walk straight down that place where the filming rails are laid.

“Standby— Cue!”

Three models walk out onto the runway where tungsten lights, HMIs [Hydrargyrum medium-arc iodide lamps], and intense spotlights shine.

Leading is Park Geon, Gu Shin-seung on the left, and Choi Pil-lip on the right. The handsome men, as tall as real models, flutter their various suit jackets.

“······.”

The aura of a top star is displayed even in places that are not their main job. They cover the walking with their breathing and eyes, and add their own acting on top of it.

‘This time, it would be fun to go with the feeling of the characters in the drama. All three of you have such distinct personalities… I wonder if it’s possible to express it?’

The director’s feedback was perfectly reflected. Gu Shin-seung’s expression is as emotionless as a stone Buddha, and Choi Pil-lip, with his hands in his pockets, even walks fiercely.

Between the strict eldest brother and the arrogant youngest brother is the protagonist of this world, Park Geon.

The returnee who carries the fate of the company… and tens of thousands of people, moves forward to change fate.

The former thug’s steps are unstoppable. As the legs wrapped in a blue suit stretch out, the long runway quickly comes to an end.

Soon, the three paths converge in one place. The youngest, glancing at his two brothers, stares at the red lights of the flashing cameras.

As if to tell all the enemies of the family,

That I have returned.

As those watching swallow their exclamations, the director’s signal drops loudly.

“Perfect, okay!”

*

“Will she take the bait? Yeo Jin-joo.”

In the studio waiting room, Choi Pil-lip, who was changing out of his suit, asked. Geon shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know. I’ve put in a call first.”

“Be careful. There are some writers and directors who freak out if an actor even talks to them, and there are quite a few victims who were ground up after wrongly approaching that old geezer. It seems they think you’re trying to shake them up presumptuously.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Gu Shin-seung said, stopping as he was buttoning his shirt.

“But was Writer Yeo already that old? I thought she was still going strong.”

“I don’t know, I don’t think she’s sixty yet?”

The commercial shoot is already over. It’s thanks to the walking speed, eye contact, and even the acting chemistry between each other that matched without rehearsal.

‘Wow, there’s nothing to throw away. I could really believe you’re brothers. Roman isn’t actually a model agency, is it?’

The director threw away the storyboard, praising them so much that his mouth went dry.

It’s not flattery. The production team has every reason to be excited, since the three actors filmed a commercial with an unfamiliar concept without a single NG [no-go, meaning no mistakes].

Not only Park Geon, who tore up Paris, but also Gu Shin-seung and Choi Pil-lip, who were exaggerating, saying it was their first time modeling, showed top-notch walking.

“What’s the next schedule… a photoshoot?”

“Yes, we’ll go straight in without moving.”

They got a commercial that will be broadcast on TV, but there are still schedules left. Next is a photoshoot in the same space, with a different concept.

Gu Shin-seung smiled slyly, rolling his eyes.

“But second brother, your words and actions are different.”

“Why are you picking a fight again.”

“Didn’t you say you didn’t want to do it together because the pay was cut? You were quite enthusiastic today.”

Choi Pil-lip scoffed.

“That’s for people I don’t know. I don’t care if I earn a little less from this kind of thing, I have to do something fun.”

As he filmed, he learned that Choi Pil-lip had surprisingly many human sides.

However, he is thoroughly businesslike with staff he is not close to. Seeing that even company employees find Choi Pil-lip difficult, it seemed like he only took care of things within his own boundaries.

‘I’m glad the agency colleagues are okay. It would have been tiring if there were only people like that actress.’

Even glamorous stars are ultimately people. In a world made up of business and capital, there is a fundamental thirst for human relationships.

Suddenly, a brief dizziness flashed through his mind. Geon closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them.

―You don’t trust us.

―What are you talking about all of a sudden?

―There’s no need to make excuses. I can tell by looking at your eyes. That you regard not only your colleagues, but even yourself as expendable. The exception would be… yes, that foul-mouthed saint.

They were miserably defeated by the third Great Demon… Valmon of Wrath.

The guy was a monster unlike any opponent they had faced so far. Those of low rank burst like dust, and even powerful heroes could not avoid becoming a mist of blood.

The only method they found after hundreds of attempts was to aim for the moment when his colleagues were being broken down by him.

―Well, whatever. What does it matter if the hero is a quirky and crazy demon maniac? I don’t care if he sacrifices me as long as I can end this damn fight….

Hunt, the ‘Thug’ who fought to the end among the final four, twisted his scarred lips.

―Go and kill them. Whether it’s demons or humans.

“Actors, this is the final outfit!”

At that moment, the door opened and the staff pushed in a mobile hanger. Choi Pil-lip’s expression changed strangely as he checked the final outfit.

“···What is this, soldier play?”

Receiving special orders, the Hanjo Corporation design team created a masterpiece that will go down in history.

On the hanger, along with everyday clothes, were uniforms that looked like costumes at first glance, silver-gray breastplates, and velvet coats in the form of robes.

Gu Shin-seung carefully examined the inside of the shoulder armor and said.

“The quality is good as expected. It won’t be heavy even if you wear it over a suit.”

“I’m getting dizzy… it’s not a game commercial, do we have to film even this kind of thing?”

“It’s our youngest’s pick. I heard it’s going to be included as a director’s cut at the end of the photoshoot.”

That damn hero… Choi Pil-lip, who was grumbling, rummaged through the clothes hanging and asked.

“Can I pick anything among these? What are you going to wear, Park Geon-ssi?”

What he will wear is already decided. Geon picked out a breastplate, a fur-trimmed cloak, and black leather pants.

“I’ll go with what I always wear.”

* * *