Chapter 19

Chapter 019

“Oh, hyung.
Are you trying to steal our youngest production staff right in front of me?”

Director Song, who had been watching the scene, spoke jokingly.

“Come on, why are you putting it like that?
Instead of ‘steal,’ there's a much nicer word called ‘scout.’
Haha.”

“Gibaek, looks like hyung really likes you.
Actually, he's not the kind of person who easily hands out his business card to just anyone.”

“Ah, yes...
By any chance, are you starting a new project?”

“I'm currently discussing the investment and main actors.
I think we'll enter pre-production in a month or two.”

“Ah...
I see...”

“Hyung, you have to pay Gibaek a lot of money.
You know that, right?”

“Good grief.
Yes, yes.
Of course I will.”

Director Song and Baek Seonghan exchanged jokes.

“I'm heading back to Seoul now.
Finish the filming well, and make sure you contact me.
I'll buy you something delicious.”

“Yes.
Thank you.”

After parting ways with Baek Seonghan, I headed toward the abandoned factory.

It was already past three o'clock.

“Hyung, go inside and get some rest.”

“I can stay here too.”

“You have to be on set the whole time during filming.
I'll see how things go and maybe get some sleep for a while at dawn.”

“All right.
Then take care.”

After Cha Seungjun left the abandoned factory, I thought about Baek Seonghan.

On the surface, he seemed like a gentleman.

And judging from Director Song's attitude toward Baek Seonghan, he was probably quite capable.

But why had I never heard his name even once during my twenty years in the film industry?

When it came to work, connections were important.

Why else would the term ‘office politics’ have come into existence?

Wasn't it all part of a kind of survival instinct to get connected to someone higher up who could pull you along?

The movie industry was no different.

The Hwang ** faction, the Jang faction, the Kang * faction, and so on...

In the film industry, factions were formed around successful directors, and people tried to establish connections so they could join those factions.

From that perspective, I also needed a strong lifeline that could pull me upward.

But Baek Seonghan...

I wasn't sure.

Could I really use my connection with Baek Seonghan to properly settle into ‘Big Picture’?

If I chose the wrong connection, I might end up falling together with it.

While I was lost in thought, it was already past eight o'clock.

Fortunately, the rain had stopped.

As soon as the rain stopped, the staff began returning to the abandoned factory one by one.

Just then, the dinner we had ordered arrived.

Cha Seungjun announced to the staff.

“All right, everyone.
Please have your dinner now, and gather on set by nine.
Enjoy your meal.”

While everyone was eating, Director Song and Producer Jung, who had skipped their meals, were troubled by another problem that had appeared on the set.

They had somewhat expected it, but the rain had left puddles of water all over the filming location.

“What are we going to do?
It doesn't look like this is going to dry anytime soon...”

“They say troubles come one after another.
This is driving me crazy.”

Seeing Director Song desperately pulling at his hair in frustration, Producer Jung spoke.

“Let's just get rid of most of the water and shoot.
We don't have any other choice in this situation.”

“Then what about what we filmed during the day?
There wasn't any water on the floor in those scenes.
What are we going to do about the continuity?”

Once again, Director Song and Producer Jung found themselves trapped in a difficult situation.

Ah...
We can't keep wasting time like this.

Even if we started filming now, there was very little time left to finish all the night scenes before sunrise.

I couldn't just stand around worrying and waste more time.

So I quickly started thinking.

All right.
Now that things have come to this, there's only one way.

What we needed right now was to choose what mattered most and focus on it.

“Director, how about giving up the footage we shot during the day?”

At my sudden suggestion, Director Song and Producer Jung stared at me with dumbfounded expressions.

“What are you talking about?
Give up what we shot during the day?”

“As you know, we don't have much time.
You have to make a decision before the staff finish eating.
If we waste more time discussing this, we won't be able to finish all the night scenes today.”

“Even so, this is...”

“We didn't shoot much footage this morning.
Maybe four or five cuts?
It's probably around that much.
For that amount of footage, wouldn't it be okay to shoot it again?
Then we could simply sprinkle water on the floor tomorrow morning and maintain the continuity.”

“So you're saying we should set it up as if the floor was already wet from the beginning?”

Director Song quickly began thinking through my suggestion.

“Yes, that's right.
Fortunately, thanks to the extra film Producer Jung brought, we still have quite a bit of film left.
So right now, I think it's best to make a quick decision and focus on that decision.”

While Director Song thought for a moment, Producer Jung spoke.

“I think it's a pretty good idea.
It would be better to make a decision before the staff get confused.”

Whenever I saw moments like this, I realized just how difficult being a director was.

Of course, what job in the world was truly easy?

But there were few professions where a person had to constantly stand at a crossroads and make decisions within such a short amount of time as a director.

In terms of risk-taking and the ability to make decisions in an instant, a director was much like a gambler.

They invested a huge amount of money into making a movie, yet there was no guarantee that it would succeed.

A gambler was the same.

They put money on the line and challenged an uncertain outcome.

Both took great risks in pursuit of a large reward.

A movie set also required countless immediate decisions.

A gambler, likewise, had to quickly decide whether to place a bet and how much to bet every moment.

In that sense, a director was a gambler, while a producer was a con artist.

To attract investments ranging from hundreds of millions to tens of billions of won with nothing but a single script, they had to constantly charm and persuade people.

Calling it persuasion sounded nice, but in some ways, it was almost like being a con artist.

Thinking about it that way, perhaps making a movie itself was a kind of scam and gamble.

“All right.
Let's do that.”

After much consideration, Director Song made his decision.

The filming that began from that point continued until after four o'clock the following afternoon.

The filming that had seemed like it would never end was finally almost complete.

Only the final model house shoot remained.

But just when we thought the end was finally in sight, another problem occurred.

Moon Hyunbin was involved in a traffic accident while returning home after filming.

Fortunately, he wasn't seriously injured.

However, the ligaments in his ankle had been stretched, and he was told that he needed at least a week of rest.

With the situation turning out like this, Director Song decided to shoot Daehо Construction's promotional video first, which had originally been scheduled to be filmed after all the movie scenes were completed.

Director Song's brow furrowed deeply as he looked over the storyboard for the promotional video.

“Why?
What's the problem?”

Producer Jung seemed to understand Director Song's mood just by looking at his expression.

“It's just...
I feel like something is missing.”

Director Song tilted his head to one side and continued to furrow his brow.

At his vague answer, the assistant director tilted his head and asked.

“What exactly feels lacking?”

“Everything else is fine...
But how should I put it...
Having a voice actor simply deliver the lines as narration feels too explanatory and cliché.”

“Hey, Director Song.
Just do it roughly.
It looks fine to me.”

“Come on, Producer Jung.
What do you mean, ‘just do it roughly’?
We're getting paid for this work.
How can you say we should do it roughly?
Instead, why don't you come up with some ideas?”

“The shoot is the day after tomorrow.
What are you trying to change now?
Just do it as it is.”

Despite Producer Jung's complaints, Director Song still refused to give up and continued thinking.

“Ah...
Isn't there some good idea?”

I was practically a complete outsider when it came to corporate promotional videos.

Still, I thought about the apartment advertisements I had seen on television.

I remembered beautiful houses with seemingly happy families.

Or tall, beautiful female models walking around various parts of an apartment while saying things like, ‘Ah, I want to live in a house like this,’ or ‘The home I've always dreamed of.’

“How about having a model appear?”

“A model?”

“Yes.
I was thinking, what if a model appeared and delivered the lines herself?”

“Hmm...
A model...”

I had only casually brought up the idea, but Director Song seemed to think about it much more seriously than I expected.

“I don't think it's a bad idea.”

“But where are we suddenly going to find a model?
And we'd have to pay the model separately too...”

“Exactly.
Don't those kinds of models cost a lot of money?”

“Models have completely different fees depending on their level.”

Everyone began adding their own comments.

“Then how about noona Boyoung?”

The moment I casually mentioned Gil Boyoung's name, everyone's eyes turned toward me at the same time.

“Oh~ Min Gibaek.
Is this why you were talking about having a model from the beginning?”

“That's it.
That's definitely it.
Wow~
Our Gibaek is more ambitious than I thought.
He's even thinking about putting the woman he likes in an advertisement.”

The assistant director and Jungin raised the corners of their mouths while giving me mischievous looks.

What the hell...

Apparently, the assistant director and the scriptwriter Jungin had also heard that I was a fan of Gil Boyoung.

They began teasing me with knowing expressions.

“I absolutely didn't say that.
This time, I really wasn't the one who said it.”

Cha Seungjun immediately waved his hands and actively denied that he had told them.

Ha...
So now everyone knows that I was a fan of Gil Boyoung...

“It's okay.
It's okay.
There's nothing embarrassing about liking someone.
Hahaha.”

“But even so, would Boyoung really agree to do something this sudden?”

Since I had already been labeled an ambitious man, I decided to shamelessly embrace it.

“I'll persuade noona Boyoung.”

“Oh~
Now you're openly taking care of her?
Wow, our Gibaek is something else.”

“Wow, you're really showing your Gibaek side this time.
Haha.”

I immediately called Gil Boyoung.

“Noona, are you free today?!”