Chapter 1173: Movie Star (1)

New Year's Day!

After finishing the Times Square event and returning to the hotel, we held a modest New Year's party.

Junghyun spoke solemnly.

"Didn't they say on the news that 2019 is the Year of the Golden Pig?"

"That's right!"

"And so, in honor of that, I created a special Kim Junghyun recipe featuring pork."

Junghyun set a steaming pot on the table and lifted the lid like a chef.

"Thin-Sliced Pork Belly Ramen."

"!!"

"I made plenty, so help yourselves~"

At those words, the other members and our TF team staff grabbed their chopsticks and descended on the pot.

Indeed.

What kind of late-night party after midnight would it be without ramen? That was practically a law among Koreans.

Pssht-

The sounds of beer cans opening rang out from every direction as the TF team employees raised their drinks in a toast.

Since I had a schedule tomorrow, I gulped down nonalcoholic champagne and clinked glasses with the others, who were holding wine.

Ding-dong!

"Oh, that must be room service."

A hotel employee entered the room and filled the table with chicken, French fries, and all kinds of other food.

Our TF team leader gave the employee, who wished us a happy New Year, a generous tip and received a delighted smile in return.

"All right, let's dig in."

Everyone rubbed their palms together, grinned, and began eating.

The main topics of conversation at our modest party were the year 2018 that had passed and the year now ahead of us.

Seokhwan sipped his beer and said,

"2018 was seriously long. It feels like two years passed. So much happened."

"You worked hard, Team Leader."

"And you worked hard too, Deputy General Manager."

At those words, we all went, "Ooh~" and turned our heads.

Manager Hong Seoyoung—or rather, now that the New Year had arrived, soon-to-be Deputy General Manager Hong Seoyoung.

"Oh, it was nothing."

Deputy General Manager Hong Seoyoung's face was flushed with joy.

She had been an assistant manager when we first met four years ago, and she was already becoming a deputy general manager. It was an extraordinarily rapid promotion.

And the reason she was so happy wasn't merely because her rank was rising.

Ri Hyuk said,

"You'll have a lot more work from now on."

"That's right."

It meant that, as the undisputed second-in-command of our TF team, she would sometimes lead it in Seokhwan's place.

When the youngest tilted his head, I explained.

"...Basically, she's like a substitute team leader."

"Huh? So she's a high-ranking assistant manager?"

We burst out laughing when the youngest misunderstood "substitute team leader" as referring to the rank of assistant manager.

Then we smiled and explained.

"That's right. Assistant managers become more important when you put something in front of the title. Chairman's assistant manager. Vice chairman's assistant manager."

"Hehehehe. That's how it works~"

Ri Hyuk clicked his tongue at the older members spreading false information to our youngest.

"What a fine thing for his older brothers to be doing. That's not true, Wang Jiho."

"It's not?"

While Ri Hyuk explained to Jiho what the word actually meant, Seokhwan spoke to me.

"There are changes in rank, and there will probably be changes to the organizational structure too."

"How?"

"Right now, we have the head of the management division, and beneath him everything operates through the TF team system, right? The Scarlet team, the NewBlack team, the other singers' teams, and Actors Teams One, Two, and Three."

I nodded.

At some point, our company had begun operating through a TF team system.

Separate teams were assigned exclusively to each artist so they could respond quickly to whatever immediate tasks arose.

Seokhwan continued.

"Until now, that was effective. The projects coming in weren't especially large, so a structure where a small number of people handled things quickly worked well."

"But now that's becoming difficult."

"You've grown too big, and so has the company. Well, it hasn't yet, but it's about to."

As shareholders, we knew what he was talking about.

With the enormous success of and , Studio Lemon was expanding, while there was even talk of NBS constructing a new broadcasting headquarters following the massive success of .

Jiho said,

"Come to think of it, whenever I pass through the Studio Lemon section of the company, I see tons of employees I've never met."

"Exactly."

Our TF team leader continued.

"The important thing is that the projects coming to you are becoming much larger and more numerous. They're reaching a point where our current manpower simply can't handle them."

"So that's why the structure needs to be reorganized."

"Right."

I understood what he meant.

Until now, if a wild boar appeared on the mountain behind us, a small military unit could be dispatched to catch it.

But.

-Kyaaaaaah!

If a fire-breathing Junghyunmon appeared, a single unit wouldn't be enough.

The days of operating on a small scale were over. From now on, we needed a larger, more systematic organization.

Ri Hyuk, who struggled with adapting to new environments, asked with a worried expression,

"Then is everything going to change immediately?"

"No."

Seokhwan smiled.

"Organizational restructuring isn't that simple. We need to recruit people who can work well with us, and there are a lot of things to consider... For now, it's merely in the planning stage."

"Then the workload will be lighter than it is now, right?"

"Probably. Once we have more people, each person's workload should decrease."

That was ? Nоvеl?g?т ? (Continue reading) a relief.

We were the ones being looked after, so naturally it was better if things changed in a way that benefited the company employees.

As we ate various late-night snacks and talked, everyone gradually became quieter.

Our stomachs were full, and drowsiness was setting in.

"Oh, boy."

I stretched and looked out at the nighttime view of Manhattan beyond the hotel.

Loud cheers were still echoing outside.

I could see my face reflected in the window.

"Hmm...."

I placed a hand on my tired-looking cheek and said,

"I'm twenty-seven now too. I've gotten so old...."

"Wooju."

"Yes, Deputy General Manager."

Deputy General Manager Hong Seoyoung crushed the beer can in her hand.

"Shut your mouth."

"Yes, ma'am."

While I shrank beneath the ominous gazes of the other employees in their thirties and looked away, someone asked,

"Then how old is everyone now?"

"I'm twenty-seven, and Biju and Junghyun are two years younger than me, so they're twenty-five."

Biju nodded.

"Ri Hyuk is two years younger than me."

"So he's twenty-three. Wow... I'm jealous."

As Ri Hyuk silently sipped his wine, our eyes turned toward someone.

Sparkle, sparkle-

A child whose skin practically glowed.

His eyes shone with the vitality only the young possessed, and his face was smooth and radiant without a single blemish.

Though not quite as much as when he had been in high school, our youngest was still dazzling.

But....

The face of our youngest, who was currently the object of everyone's envy, was filled with concern.

"Hmmmm."

Jiho tugged on his plump cheek and stared at his reflection in the hotel window before taking a gloomy sip of beer.

"I'm not as young as I used to be."

"..."

"I felt really young in high school, but now I'm already twenty-two... I feel so old."

"..."

"Not twenty-one, but twenty-two. Now I'm farther from twenty than nineteen is."

Silence descended.

Our TF team leader, who was in his late thirties, slowly closed his eyes. Deputy General Manager Hong Seoyoung began converting her beer can into a weapon, while everyone else glared at Jiho as though ready to throw the French fries in their hands.

We felt the same.

Wouldn't it be all right to give him one good knock on the head?

That doesn't sound bad. We can use shock therapy to bring him back to his senses.

You have to hit him very gently, though.

But oblivious to all of that, our youngest was lamenting while drowning in self-pity.

"Ah~ I wanna go back to high school!"

"..."

Then the youngest took another sip of beer.

Sluuuurp-

How could even the sound he made be so irritating?

I whispered to Deputy General Manager Hong Seoyoung, who was sharpening the beer can beside me.

"So this is how you felt when I said that just now?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry...."

I achieved enlightenment through the perfect mirror treatment.

"Heehee!"

At twenty-seven, I was still young and full of life.

After spending one night in New York, we headed to the western United States instead of returning to Korea.

That was because we had business in Hollywood, the center of the global film industry, right from the beginning of the year.

Most importantly, we were going to attend the Golden Globe Awards on January 7.

There was also....

-Hot Sauce

The upcoming promotion for a song aimed at the Latin American market.

"We're being buried in work right from the start of the year."

"Seriously."

We were busy in all sorts of ways.

Biju was absorbed in creating Lemon's own dance crew, Ri Hyuk was busy with requests for soundtracks and various featured appearances, and Junghyun was also occupied with several projects involving other rappers.

Meanwhile, Jiho and I had begun participating in earnest in superhero film projects.

"I'll see you later, youngest."

"See you later too~!"

As soon as we arrived in Los Angeles, we waved and went our separate ways.

Jiho had a production meeting for <Secret Agent 3>, being made by Wonder Comics under World Art Studio, the largest film studio in the world.

Meanwhile, I was on my way to Silver Screen Studios to film a post-credits scene.

-Fang.

The role I would be playing in the film <Guardians 2>, and the movie's main villain.

The basic concept was something like this.

-You humans who destroy nature! I will take revenge on behalf of the animals!

In the Guardians series, the heroes fought using the powers of animals.

One hero could fly at supersonic speeds because he possessed an eagle's ability to fly, while another could slash nimbly with claws like a tiger's.

The villain I played could control the power of nature and therefore use all of those abilities.

Fang was such an overwhelmingly powerful villain that all the heroes had to join forces just to stand a chance.

"Hmm."

In the comic book I was reading, a female version of Fang wore a fur cloak and fired lasers from her hands.

[KA-BOOM!!]

[Everyone, move!]

As I looked through the comic filled with speech bubbles like those, I spoke to Mingi, who was sitting beside me.

"But I don't know what the movie version will be like."

"You don't know either?"

"No. They haven't told me much."

Director John Edwards had given me a few explanations, but they amounted to little more than a rough overview.

I smiled.

"You know what's even funnier? I'm on my way to film it right now, but I don't even have a script."

"...Is it normally like this?"

"I think it's probably because this is a post-credits scene, but apparently the main shoot is just as bad."

I wondered whether I was the only one, so I looked up interviews with other actors who had appeared in superhero films.

Fortunately, it wasn't just me.

-Not long before filming, a man in a long coat would come and hand me an envelope. Inside was a tablet PC.

Because the script wasn't printed on paper, the actors couldn't write notes on it. Worse still, each actor received only the section they had to perform, making it impossible to grasp the overall story.

Then, after a certain amount of time, the script file automatically deleted itself.

It was no wonder even actors famous for their talent reacted with horror whenever superhero films were mentioned.

-I arrived on set, and they wouldn't even explain what kind of scene it was. They simply told me to make a sad expression.

There were all sorts of unbelievable stories.

They planted trees around studios to block paparazzi photographs and distributed fake scripts to the actors.

Mingi shook his head at what I said.

"That's too much."

"But I can understand it to some extent."

Once you heard the reasons, it made a certain amount of sense.

When you heard stories about paparazzi sneaking onto film sets or actors revealing major spoilers, you could understand why they maintained such extreme security.

Mingi said,

"I still don't understand it."

"What part?"

"Maybe for Wonder... but does Silver really need to go this far?"

I burst out laughing.

Unlike Wonder Comics, which was considered the best in the industry, Silver Comics' superhero films had not achieved much success.

Normally, there would have been an uproar over my casting as Fang, who had most often appeared as a white man, but in my case, even the hardcore fans welcomed it.

Partly because Fang had appeared in many different versions, including Native American, female, and Asian incarnations, but more importantly, it was because of the films' popularity.

-Anyone freaking out because Sunny was cast isn't a real Silver Comics fan. I can say that with absolute certainty.

-The first movie bombed and you're worried about the race of the cast in the sequel????

-I don't care, please, I'm begging you, just save the movie.

-Let us be successful for once. (Tears)

-I trust that Director John Edwards had a reason for casting Sunny.

That was right.

They were delighted that such an honored guest had come to their shabby franchise because the first film and Silver Comics' other recent movies had produced atrocious results.

That was also why Mingi had joked that there was no need for such strict security when nobody was curious about the movie anyway.

"We've arrived."

We reached our destination, Silver Screen Studios.

It was the same studio I had visited for the <Guardians 2> screen test.

The area was sparsely populated and surrounded by so many trees that even photographs taken from a distance would probably show nothing but dense foliage.

As we entered a massive warehouse building, a heavyset man approached us.

"Sunny!"

"John!"

It was John Edwards, the director of <Guardians 2>, whom I had known since the musical film .

He smiled as he shook hands with Mingi and me.

"Have you been well?"

"I couldn't have been better. How about you, Director?"

"Now that full-scale production has begun, I barely know which way is up. Oh, you've met everyone here before, haven't you?"

When they nodded and said, "Hi," I called them by name and told them I remembered them.

I asked,

"Where should I go?"

"Let's meet after you get your makeup done."

Just like last time, I was led to the makeup room.

Psssh-

The finest professionals transformed my face into that of a villain in the blink of an eye as they sprayed various products.

My hair was disheveled as though it had become slightly greasy, and shading made my face look sunken and shadowed.

They painted dark circles beneath my eyes.

At the same time, they emphasized my eyeliner, transforming my face into one with the overall sharp impression of a wolf.

Even I found my own face fascinating beneath the villain makeup.

"Huh."

The stern-looking makeup artist clapped and said, "Perfect."

"Perfect. You look like an absolutely flawless sculpture."

"Heehee!"

"Don't ruin my makeup with a laugh like that, Sunny."

"Yes, ma'am."

As I resumed a solemn expression and stared into the mirror, it was the costume team's turn.

A worn, tattered coat.

I was putting on an outfit that looked like something the last survivor of an apocalypse might wear when I undid the buttons again.

"I think something feels strange."

"?"

"My character is an animal that became human, right?"

"That's right."

"Then wouldn't it be strange for him to button his shirt this perfectly? It should be a little uneven...."

"Ah. That would be better."

After discussing it with the costume designer, we changed the outfit so that some buttons were fastened in the wrong holes while the top was left slightly open.

As though it had been put on by someone wearing clothes for the first time.

After spending a full three hours creating the perfect appearance, we headed to the set.

"The post-credits scene will be very short. Your part in it isn't long, Sunny."

"Understood."

"You won't need a special script."

I asked the director,

"What do I need to do now?"

"Stand in front of that green screen."

The director explained the actions I needed to perform.

"Crouch over there, then stand up and turn around."

"Hmm."

I asked,

"I don't have a script, so I don't understand the situation. Could you explain what's happening in the scene?"

"Fang has decided to begin taking revenge on the humans who killed his family."

"Hmm."

"But it's closer to cold vengeance than burning rage."

I understood what he meant.

After repeating the rehearsal several times, we began the actual shoot.

"Hoooooo."

I crouched in front of the green screen and closed my eyes.

I could understand why actors in superhero movies struggled to immerse themselves.

They had to imagine the entire situation and act it out alone in front of an empty green curtain.

-He lost his family and is taking revenge.

Since I had no script from which I could infer any particular context, in a case like this, I had no choice but to draw upon my own experiences.

Even if I would appear for only three to five seconds in a post-credits scene, it was important to do my best.

It was a resolution I had made constantly since my debut: whatever I did, I would leave a powerful impression on the public.

Right now, I was focused entirely on this performance.

And one quality of a great actor that I had discovered while filming the sitcom was the ability to immerse oneself the instant the cue was given.

-It's closer to cold vengeance.

I closed my eyes and envisioned the scene.

One day.

What would I do if someone took away the people I loved, the most precious people in my life?

What if my eyes met the empty gazes of my loved ones lying on the ground...?

"..."

My emotions were already surging, and I squeezed my eyes shut.

Perhaps sensing that I was ready, Director John Edwards raised his megaphone.

"Ready—action!"

I opened my eyes and stared at the green screen.

But what I saw before me now was the sight of my precious people lying dead.

I watched them in silence, then rose and turned around.

I had to do something.

The people responsible for this had to pay the price.

But rather than rushing off to take revenge at once, I would use a cold, clear mind to ensure that my vengeance was perfect.

As I stared into the camera with an icy expression....

Drip-

A hot tear rolled down the face with which I was portraying cold vengeance.