Become A Music Monster Overnight! [EN]: Chapter 150

43. Red Light, Green Light

“……I’m worried.”

Youngchan admired her acting prowess, but couldn’t shake off his concern.

Even Chris had experienced significant aftereffects from using method acting to portray ‘Jin.’

It was even more concerning that Gahyoung was so deeply immersed in method acting to embody Mihyun.

Fortunately, Gahyoung’s manager had recognized this early on and was taking precautions.

“She’s already receiving counseling.”

“Ah! Is that so?”

The reason he hadn’t heard about it was likely due to the manager’s discretion.

This was because, unlike in other countries where mental health counseling is commonplace, in Korea, seeing a psychiatrist often carries a stigma.

If this information were to leak to the media, who thrive on sensationalism, it would undoubtedly cause an uproar.

Therefore, the manager was minimizing the visibility of her mental health counseling, even within the company.

Youngchan admired the manager’s proactive approach and resolved to establish a mental health counseling center within the company.

This was to prevent situations from escalating, as people might avoid seeking counseling for fear of leaks to reporters, as the manager had pointed out.

“It’s better to nip it in the bud.”

Youngchan didn’t intend to limit the mental health counseling center to actors alone.

He planned to make mental health counseling mandatory for both actors and singers.

He understood the immense stress stemming from the disparity between their everyday lives and their glamorous stage personas.

“If it’s effective, we should consider extending it to trainees as well.”

Trainees are typically in their hormone-fueled adolescence, making them particularly emotionally vulnerable.

In such circumstances, they are susceptible to exploitation targeting their looks and talent, so providing mental care for trainees was the right thing to do to prevent this.

“No way, are you telling me to get mental counseling at my age?”

“……I’m not really the type to get stressed out, though?”

“Damn it! Why me too?”

“Ah…… I like it. I’ve been wanting to get it.”

“Sigh. I was already accumulating stress, so this is good.”

The first to receive it were the Black Tiger uncles.

Most of them grumbled, but Moon Ilbeom and Park Shiyoung were relatively positive about the counseling.

However, in Park Shiyoung’s case, it seemed he was seeking counseling more for childcare and housework-related issues than work-related ones.

“What’s been bothering you the most lately?”

“…….”

Of course, Youngchan also underwent counseling.

“Interesting. Usually, these cases involve people who have been in the entertainment industry since they were young.”

“……Is that so?”

The counselor looked at Youngchan with a sense of fascination.

This was because she knew that he had worked in factories until he was thirty years old. Furthermore, the counselor found many intriguing aspects during her mental counseling sessions with Youngchan.

There were so many contradictory elements that she sometimes wondered if he had a split personality. Because of this, the counselor initially suspected that Youngchan was being dishonest to conceal his true feelings.

“Youngchan, I’d like to keep your case on file. I’ve never encountered someone so stable while simultaneously appearing so conflicted.”

“So, there’s no problem?”

“Yes. At least, that’s how it appears to me. Aside from work-related stress, you seem healthy.”

“That’s a relief.”

“So, about that…… Can I use it as a case study?”

“That’s a bit…….”

A case study implied publishing a case paper, which, of course, adhered to the principle of protecting the patient’s anonymity.

It was that unique of a case, but unfortunately for the counselor, Youngchan declined.

One of the reasons for his refusal was that he attributed this peculiar case to a bizarre incident he had experienced six years prior, leading him to believe that a case like his would never arise again.

Surprisingly, this counseling proved beneficial to Jamie.

She, who had ascended to the top in America to the point of being hailed as the Queen of America, had more areas that required mental care than anticipated.

Of course, it was more connected to her brother and the resulting unstable family dynamics than work-related concerns.

Jamie’s father had passed away when she was young, and her mother had remarried.

This was the only period in her childhood when she experienced some semblance of happiness.

However, her brother fell ill, and her stepfather couldn’t cope with caring for him, ultimately leading to another divorce for her mother.

Then, her brother passed away, and her mother succumbed to despair.

Fortunately, her aunt, who resided in Texas, learned about her mother’s situation and extended an invitation for them to live with her, but Jamie declined the offer.

This was because she had resolved to fulfill the wish her brother had entrusted to her.

And by chance, she encountered Youngchan and was able to realize that wish.

The problem was that her purpose vanished as she fulfilled her wish.

The shock of her mother’s despair in the past had belatedly affected her, and she didn’t realize she was falling apart until she underwent counseling.

As a result, she had to temporarily suspend her activities during a busy period, which had a significant negative impact.

First and foremost, the concert and comeback date were postponed indefinitely.

YC America’s stock price plummeted, and there were vehement protests from her fans, but YC Entertainment did not reverse its decision.

They couldn’t risk killing the goose that might lay many golden eggs in the future simply because they were in a hurry at the moment.

Thus, YC Entertainment, which had been garnering considerable attention with the release of ‘The King of Arrogance’ and Jamie’s sudden suspension of activities, finally released Squid to the world in August 2018.

* * *

YC Film’s broadcasting policy was to upload all episodes at once, similar to N Corporation [Netflix], except for cases where they were broadcast in collaboration with broadcasting stations.

Squid followed the same approach.

Already, the advertising costs invested in YC Revolution, as well as in Squid, exceeded $100 million.

Since they were allocating advertising budgets typically reserved for Hollywood blockbuster films to promote a single YC Film drama, the United States, along with other countries, expressed curiosity.

They wondered what kind of work they had created to warrant such extensive promotion.

As that interest intensified, a teaser video was released, further amplifying people’s curiosity.

-Beep! Beep!-

The bizarre recorder sound that lingered in their minds after hearing it once, coupled with the high quality of the rapidly unfolding video, was incredibly captivating.

“Oh, Sxxt!”

“Fxxking!”

Especially at the end of the teaser, people couldn’t help but swear.

This was because YC, who was continuously boosting his stock price by playing ‘Jin’ in ‘The King of Arrogance,’ made an appearance.

Furthermore, those who had watched ‘The King of Arrogance’ couldn’t help but be intrigued because it seemed like they were witnessing the corrupted version of ‘Jin.’

As a result, interest in Squid was escalating to a staggering degree.

It was no surprise, as ‘The King of Arrogance’ had shattered all the records in film history.

In terms of both viewership and revenue, it had surpassed ‘Avatar’ and ‘Star Wars 1.’

Consequently, it was safe to assume that the awards for best director, screenplay, music, etc., at film festivals were already predetermined.

Anyway, it was hard not to be interested in a work featuring YC, whose value had skyrocketed, even if it was just a cameo.

As such extraordinary interest converged, the YC Entertainment public relations team was astounded, stating that this single teaser had generated more than double the publicity of the advertising costs they had invested thus far.

Anyway, when the interest reached its peak,

The Squid work was uploaded worldwide.

“Ahem. I’m so sleepy I could die.”

It wasn’t just an expression, as Tommy’s eyes were dark, and he genuinely looked like he needed sleep.

Rachel smiled at Tommy, her co-worker, with curiosity. She wondered what kind of quirky things Tommy, who had a childlike side despite his masculine appearance, had been up to over the weekend.

“What did you do on the weekend to look like a zombie on Monday morning?”

As if he had been anticipating her question, Tommy’s eyes lit up even in his sleepiness, and he quickly responded.

“Don’t even mention it! Squid ruined my weekend.”

“Squid?”

Rachel looked puzzled at Tommy, who was suddenly talking about squid. This was even more perplexing because squid is not a common food ingredient in the United States.

‘Is he joking again?’

Tommy seemed a little surprised at her expression of reasonable suspicion.

“No way? Rachel……. You don’t know Squid?”

“???”

“Oh my gosh! Even if your interests are different, how can you not know Squid? Have you not seen ‘The King of Arrogance’ either?”

“I saw that. I saw it with you.”

“Ahahaha. That’s right.”

Tommy, who had been making a fuss, saying that he still got goosebumps even now, made Rachel watch ‘The King of Arrogance,’ insisting that it couldn’t be seen just once.

And Rachel, who wasn’t usually interested in cultural events, felt differently when it came to ‘The King of Arrogance.’

Before watching it, she thought it was just a childish superhero movie, but that notion vanished within the first 10 minutes.

The dark knight who protects the city seemed incredibly real, and in particular, ‘Jin’ made such a profound impression on her that she wondered if those who had encountered the Messiah would feel the same way.

Thanks to this, she watched ‘The King of Arrogance’ twice with Tommy.

“Anyway, YC, who played that ‘Jin,’ makes a cameo appearance in this work.”

“Really?”

“Uh……. But. Actually, that’s not important.”

“That’s not important?”

“Yeah. This Squid drama is so well made that it’s insane. I can’t predict how the story will unfold…….”

Tommy praised ‘Squid’ with sparkling eyes.

He said that he had watched all 13 episodes of ‘Squid’ over the weekend, and he was struggling to cope with the aftereffects because of the shocking ending.

“If I had known this would happen, I would have watched it on Friday. Then I could have slept well on Sunday.”

“Well. If I know Tommy, wouldn’t you have watched ‘Squid’ again?”

“……Um. I can’t deny that.”

“Kekeke.”

Rachel couldn’t help but laugh at Tommy, who readily admitted it like a child. Tommy, who looked at her with slightly shaking eyes for a moment, said to her with a slightly nervous look, as if he had already woken up.

“Rachel, what are you doing this weekend?”

“Weekend? Well. No…… More than that, it’s only Monday morning, and you’re already talking about the weekend?”

“Keuheum. If you don’t have anything to do, let’s watch ‘Squid’ together.”

“……You’ve already seen it?”

“I can watch it again. I’m telling you again, this work is really crazy. At least in my standards, I have to watch it five times.”

“Yeah, that’s Tommy. Um. Well……. I’ll think about it for now.”

“Hahaha. Good.”

Tommy burst into laughter as if he had won the lottery when she said she would think about it.

He knew that she would give a positive answer when she hesitated like this, having worked with her as a co-worker for a year.

‘This opportunity is the perfect time to confess.’

Tommy, who harbored feelings for Rachel, had intended to confess during ‘The King of Arrogance,’ but he couldn’t because she was unexpectedly too engrossed in it.

However, since ‘Squid’ has 13 episodes, the situation would obviously be different from ‘The King of Arrogance.’

‘Above all, isn’t the setting at home?’

Of course, he didn’t expect to make progress in one night like in typical American dramas or Hollywood movies.

He would consider himself lucky if he could just confess.

However, Rachel seemed to be thinking differently from him.

“Ehem, ehem. What should I wear?”

Rachel, who had given Tommy an ambiguous answer, returned to her seat and was already busy browsing for underwear to wear on the weekend.