Chapter 004
“Mom… you know that I love you a lot, right?”
Mom, who had been carefully eating her chicken, coughed in surprise at my sudden confession of love.
Then she looked at me with suspicious eyes.
“You… did you get yourself into some trouble?”
As expected… that was exactly the reaction I had anticipated.
“Mom, this time, I'm definitely going to succeed and repay you.”
“I don't have any money.”
“So don't even think about telling me you got into trouble, or are planning to.”
As expected of my mother…
I lay down on my bed, but I couldn't fall asleep easily.
I was afraid that when I woke up the next morning, I might have returned to 2024.
Thankfully, when I opened my eyes the next morning, I felt relieved.
It was still 2004.
A few days later, Cha Seung-jun and I decided to join Director Song Jaehyun's movie as production department staff and went to visit Director Song's office.
Calling it an office was a bit of a stretch.
Since the budget was tight, Director Song had borrowed an acquaintance's garage and turned it into an office.
A few desks, a large meeting table, bookshelves, chairs, computers, and various office equipment.
That was everything.
“It's pretty shabby, isn't it?”
When Cha Seung-jun and I first visited the office, Director Song showed us around.
He awkwardly smiled as he explained that most of the furniture, except for the computers and printers, had been given to him for free or picked up from nearby places.
“No, it's pretty decent for an independent film.”
“That's right.”
“Even Steve Jobs started in a garage.”
“Steve… Jobs?”
‘Ah, right.’
‘Apple phones haven't even entered Korea yet.’
I hurriedly corrected myself.
“Ah, well… he's a famous businessman from America.”
“Then, are all the directing and production staff decided?”
Director Song said there were eight people in total.
The assistant director, a script supervisor, two members of the directing department, the PD, the head of the production department, Cha Seung-jun, and me, the youngest member of the production department.
“Aren't you going to have a separate production accountant?”
“The PD is supposed to arrive soon, so let's talk about the details when the PD gets here.”
That was when it happened.
The moment Director Song finished speaking, a tall man who looked to be around 190 centimeters tall entered the garage.
He was dressed quite fashionably.
“Speak of the devil.”
“He's here right on time.”
“Ah, sorry.”
“There was a bit of traffic.”
I stared at the tall man with curiosity.
The tall man's gaze naturally turned toward Cha Seung-jun and me, who were looking at him.
“Ah, are these the people?”
“I've heard a lot about you from Director Song.”
“I'm Jung Inbeom.”
Jung Inbeom politely held out his hand to us.
We awkwardly shook hands with him.
“Hello.”
“I'm Cha Seung-jun.”
“Hello.”
“I'm Min Gibaek.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“I look forward to working with you.”
Director Song explained that PD Jung Inbeom was his high school classmate and had majored in film at Syracuse University in the United States.
“I studied in America, so the only person I know in Korea who works in film is Director Song.”
“So I thought it would be better to fill the production department with people who work well with Director Song rather than people who are familiar with me.”
“Please feel free to speak casually with me.”
“That would make me more comfortable.”
“Then shall I?”
In fact, I recognized PD Jung Inbeom at first sight.
However, the Jung Inbeom I knew wasn't a director or producer.
He was the film critic Jung Inbeom.
I had first learned about him when he began appearing on various entertainment programs as a film critic.
I had always thought his reviews were quite sharp and accurate.
“I don't know much about the Korean film production system.”
“So I think you guys probably know the practical work on set better than I do.”
“There may be a lot that I need to learn from you.”
Cha Seung-jun and I exchanged glances, silently trying to figure out the situation.
Seeing us, PD Jung smiled warmly, his friendly eyes narrowing.
“I hope you'll guide me well from now on.”
“And if there's ever anything you think I'm doing wrong, I'd like you to speak honestly with me at any time.”
As I listened to PD Jung, I suddenly remembered my old days working in the production department.
There had been a time when I dozed off during three consecutive nights of overnight filming and got slapped across the face by the production manager.
There had also been a time when I couldn't eat properly because of the chaos on set, so I secretly hid away and ate a chocolate bar, only to get kicked in the shin by the head of the production department.
And there was a director who took out his frustration over a schedule messed up by an actor by making the production staff do physical punishments.
The cinematographer would laugh as he watched us.
At this time, it wasn't uncommon for directors or PDs to use violence against their staff.
And ever since I had been the youngest member of the production department, I had been beaten countless times while working.
‘Speak honestly about complaints against your superior or tell them when they're doing something wrong?’
If you really did that, you'd get on the PD's bad side and suffer throughout the entire shoot.
And if word spread in the notoriously small film industry, no one would hire you anymore.
Of course, not every PD or director was like that.
It was simply that, unfortunately, there had been an unusually large number of people like that among the directors and PDs I had encountered.
But perhaps because PD Jung had learned his ways in America, he was surprisingly close to the ideal kind of PD.
No.
Actually, this was normal.
