An Actor Who Has Lived For 10,000 Years [EN]: Chapter 112

112. #21 – The Beginning and the End (6)

“Hee-sung…!”

Kim, my manager, shouted as he saw me coming out after finalizing the contract termination.

I smiled and approached him.

Kim bit his lip, came to me, and patted my shoulder without a word.

We understood each other’s feelings without needing to speak.

He knew better than anyone how difficult things had been for me lately.

Kim quietly opened his mouth.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“No, it’s thanks to you that everything was sorted out so cleanly.”

He showed me the schedule calendar and said,

“Once this last schedule is done, the contract is really over.”

Kim’s face showed a mixture of celebrating the contract termination and a bitter expression at parting with me.

He spoke with both emotions present on his face.

Looking at Kim’s drooping eyebrows, I replied,

“Yeah, but I hope our relationship doesn’t end here.”

“Of course. I may not be your manager anymore, but that doesn’t mean our relationship ends, Hee-sung.”

Sadness lingered between us as we forced smiles.

Kim was the first person to take on the role of my manager.

And not just because of that, but because my relationship with Kim had become so strong, I felt particularly sad about parting with him.

But that alone wasn’t enough reason to stay with HS Entertainment.

“We won’t be able to see each other every day like we used to, but let’s meet often.”

“Yeah, and we still have to see each other a bit more. You know we still have a schedule left on the contract, right? Haha.”

At his words, we burst into laughter and changed the atmosphere.

“That’s right. Please take care of me until the end, Manager. Hahaha.”

“Yes, I will.”

Kim raised his eyebrows and started walking out of the company with me.

“You don’t have any schedules today, so go home and get some rest.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll contact you again about the schedule. You’re going straight home, right?”

I nodded at his words.

I got into the car with a slightly different feeling than usual.

A few tens of minutes later.

The car stopped in front of my house.

After a brief farewell with Kim, I got out of the car.

And quickly started walking towards my house.

Buzz.

At that moment, my cell phone rang.

The caller was an unsaved number.

I hadn’t given out my number everywhere since starting my acting career, so where was this call coming from?

I tilted my head and pressed the receive button.

“Hello.”

-Is this Jin Hee-sung’s cell phone?

A deep, gentle voice of a man.

I became very wary and cautiously replied.

“Yes, who is this calling from?”

-Hello. This is Son Seok-hoon, Team Leader at WG Entertainment.

I stopped walking towards my house at the words coming from the phone.

WG Entertainment….

The company that Choi Seo-bin belongs to.

In other words, it was a famous agency that ranked within the top five and was a rival company to HS Entertainment, where I had been.

I blinked in surprise at those words.

“What business does WG Entertainment have….”

-I heard that you are terminating your contract with HS Entertainment.

The news must have spread to various agencies as soon as the article came out.

“Yes, so?”

-I was wondering if we could meet and talk. Would that be possible?

Wait a minute.

The contract termination, coupled with wanting to meet me.

This is a love call [an invitation or offer] from a new agency, isn’t it?

The corners of my mouth turned up in an instant.

I had the thought of wanting to leave HS Entertainment without any conditions.

But I wasn’t sure which agency I should go to right away.

Of course, it’s not like I can just go to any agency I want just because I want to.

That’s why I only vaguely thought that I should go to a good agency.

WG Entertainment was definitely one of the good agencies.

So this call couldn’t have been better news for me.

And there was no way I would refuse Team Leader Son’s offer.

WG Entertainment was the first company to make me an offer as soon as I terminated my contract.

At that amazing timing, I stood still on the street and expressed my joy silently so that it couldn’t be heard on the phone.

***

“Hello. Actor Jin Hee-sung!”

The person who came running towards me and bowed at the entrance of WG Entertainment.

I could tell right away from the voice.

That it was Team Leader Son who had called me.

“Hello, Team Leader Son.”

“Oh my, I’m so glad to see you. Did you have a hard time coming all this way?”

“No, I didn’t.”

He stretched out his hand, pointed to the inside of the company, and said.

“Let’s go in quickly.”

“Yes.”

Following Team Leader Son, there was a seat that had been set up in advance.

Coffee and drinks were placed on the table.

At his guidance, I sat down right away.

“I heard the news that you left the company this time, and I contacted Hee-sung urgently because I thought other companies would contact you first. Haha.”

Team Leader Son spoke in a low, gentle voice, just like on the phone.

His serious voice seemed full of trust.

“I’m grateful that you think so highly of me.”

“Actor Hee-sung’s acting skills are beyond question. I was worried that love calls would flood in.”

I smiled at his words.

Team Leader Son began to list why WG Entertainment wanted to work with me in earnest.

“First of all, our WG Entertainment will….”

WG Entertainment had done a lot of research on me.

He recited my acting spectrum and the genres I wanted.

And if I were to work with WG Entertainment, the things they could do for me.

In addition, he explained the appearance of drawing not just a few months later, but even the future of my acting career several years later.

I nodded repeatedly at his words.

But I wasn’t just being swayed by pleasant words.

The fact that the future they drew for me and the acting career I was pursuing were flowing in the same direction made me nod involuntarily.

I talked with Team Leader Son for a long time.

He handed me the prepared documents and opened his mouth again.

“So, if you work with us, here are the contract details that WG Entertainment is proposing.”

After seeing if the agency and I are on the same page, the next most important thing is the contract.

Of course, ‘money’, the distribution rate, was important.

The ratio currently applied at HS Entertainment was 55:45.

Of the money earned from work, I would settle [receive] 55, and the agency would settle [receive] 45.

I looked at the documents that Team Leader Son handed me.

As he watched me read down with my eyes, Team Leader Son said to me.

“We are going to go with a ratio of 70 for Actor Hee-sung and 30 for us.”

A whopping 70:30.

‘Wow, that’s amazing!’

Looking at it as a number, it was a little bigger than the ratio I had been receiving.

But when calculated in terms of money, the distribution rate was an enormous number.

If I negotiated an appearance fee of 100 million won after filming.

I would receive 55 million won at HS Entertainment.

At WG Entertainment, I would receive 70 million won.

The higher the amount of money earned, the more I would realize that the ratio is high.

I was tempted by the number 70.

As if to add another punch, he opened his mouth again.

“We can give you up to 150 million won as a contract fee.”

“Ah….”

It wasn’t an unsatisfactory amount at all.

No, it was an amount that would make me cheer.

However, I shouldn’t smile brightly and express my joy in this place.

I suppressed the excitement in my heart with a cold heart and hid my emotions as much as possible.

And I frowned at him and asked a question.

“Then what will the contract period be?”

He answered my question without hesitation.

“The contract period is 4 years.”

HS Entertainment spat out an absurd period of 7 years.

At the words of a normal 4-year contract period, I had nothing more to worry about.

But I raised my eyebrows with the most relaxed face possible.

And I calmly nodded and looked at Team Leader Son.

“Everything is good, but there is one condition.”

At my words, he widened his eyes and pulled his body forward.

“Yes, please tell me. What is the condition?”

I made a sound of “ss” and opened my mouth.

“If I sign a contract with WG Entertainment, there is someone I definitely want to bring.”

***

Clink-!

As the wine glasses stretched high towards the sky collided in the air,

The overflowing alcohol spilled over the glass.

“Hee-sung, you’ve worked hard next to a lacking manager all this time.”

Kim, my manager, said with a face full of regret.

I shook my head with a mouthful of bitter alcohol.

“You’re my first manager, so there’s no one to compare you to. But I’m so glad and felt so secure that you’re my manager.”

I continued, filling his empty glass.

“I didn’t feel any lack at all. I hope my next manager is like you….”

“Well, I was actually good, right? Haha.”

At his banter, the sad atmosphere that seemed like it would be the last was resolved at once.

“It won’t be easy to meet another manager like me, will it?”

“That’s right.”

Even in the brightly changed atmosphere, the word ‘farewell’ seemed to be written on Kim’s face, and his eyebrows were drooping down.

“Now that all the schedules are over, it’s really over with HS Entertainment.”

“Yeah, the contract termination went more smoothly than I thought.”

Clink-.

Once again, he and I tilted our glasses.

As we clinked glasses with regret and past memories as snacks.

Before we knew it, a bottle of soju [Korean distilled rice liquor] was emptied.

“So, did you do well with the contract with WG Entertainment?”

“Yeah, the conditions are good, and I think it’s worth believing and going with.”

Kim nodded.

He bit his lip and opened his mouth as if he was complaining.

“Now that you’re gone, Hee-sung, which actor’s manager should I go into….”

He shifted his gaze and looked at the glass.

Tuk, tuk.

I tapped the table next to his glass with the back of my hand and brought his gaze.

“Hyung [older brother/term of endearment for a close male friend].”

Kim raised his eyebrows at my call and met my eyes.

I raised the corners of my mouth and said to him.

“Who are you going to be a manager for? You have to keep being my manager.”

“Huh?”

At my words, he tilted his head with a frown.

“You have to go with me to be my manager.”

“What are you talking about?”

I shrugged my shoulders at Kim and smiled.

“Let’s go to WG Entertainment together.”

“What are you talking about? How can I go there?”

Kim said with a surprised expression.

I erased my smile and answered him.

“If you go, they can give you 1.5 times the salary you were getting now.”

“…Are you saying they’ll give me 1.5 times the salary there?”

“Yeah, that’s what we agreed to.”

***

A week ago.

While I was discussing the contract with Team Leader Son at WG Entertainment.

He accepted the condition I requested, to bring Kim, my manager.

“Then, while you’re at it, can I ask you for one more favor?”

“Are you short on the contract fee?”

I shook my head at Team Leader Son’s cautious question and answered.

“No. Not my money, but I was wondering if you could raise the salary of the manager I’m bringing compared to his previous company.”

At my words, he meaningfully raised the corners of his mouth.

And he looked into my eyes and said.

“I’m in the position of Team Leader, so I talk about contracts with many celebrities. But you’re the second person I’ve seen who talks about raising their manager’s salary instead of their own money.”

“Really?”

“Yes, my heart was touched when I first heard that story. That one person was actress Choi Seo-bin, and today, you’re the second person, Actor Jin Hee-sung.”

***

And now.

Kim, who was still looking at me with a frozen face, swallowed hard once.

And after taking a deep breath.

He looked down at the floor as if his heart was full and exhaled deeply.

“Hoo.”

His shaking pupils.

I could tell from the way he put air in his mouth and kept exhaling.

How surprised Kim was.

In addition, he was immersed in 고민 [Korean word for ‘worries/troubles’] about what to say to me.

Kim, who had been blinking quickly, slowly raised his head.

Then, he looked straight at me and murmured softly.