Chapter 151: Absorption (7)

Translator: Dreamscribe

Top actress Moon Ji-a suddenly appeared in the conference room. Kang Jae-ha was the one who had called her. A bit of staging meant to heighten PD Do Jin-deok and Writer Song Eun-hee's desire to cast her by suddenly bringing Moon Ji-a in during the meeting. After all, seeing someone in person had a much greater impact than merely hearing about them.

'Well, Moon Ji-a did ask for it too.'

Just as Kang Jae-ha had thought, Moon Ji-a had also wanted to come to this conference room. Her reason was that she was curious about the PD and writer of 'The Cooking Teacher of Joseon'. Anyway, at Moon Ji-a's sudden appearance, PD Do Jin-deok and Writer Song Eun-hee sprang to their feet. Moon Ji-a gave the two of them a bright smile with her eyes and bowed in greeting first.

"Hello, PD-nim, Writer-nim."

Caught off guard, PD Do Jin-deok and Writer Song Eun-hee returned Moon Ji-a's greeting.

"...Ah, yes. Hello, Moon Ji-a ssi."

"Ah, hello."

PD Do Jin-deok and Writer Song Eun-hee stared fixedly at Moon Ji-a. To the point that it seemed their gazes alone might bore holes through her face. Moon Ji-a, on the other hand, showed the composure befitting a top actress and turned toward Kang Jae-ha, whose expression hadn't changed.

"So, can I do 'The Cooking Teacher of Joseon'?"

Kang Jae-ha calmly nodded.

"Yes, we were actually just about to wrap up the discussion."

"Aha. Then I guess I can do 'The Cooking Teacher of Joseon'?"

As Moon Ji-a's smile deepened, PD Do Jin-deok immediately jumped in. His naturally flushed face grew even redder with excitement.

"Hahaha! Of course you can! Is there any production in this country that Moon Ji-a ssi couldn't do??"

"You're flattering me, PD-nim."

"Come on! Flattering you? Grab any director off the street and ask them, and every last one would beg Moon Ji-a ssi to work with them!"

"That's embarrassing. I'm not quite at that level, PD-nim."

PD Do Jin-deok, grinning happily, was already busy showering Moon Ji-a with praise. Not that anything he'd said was a lie. It was all true; he'd simply dialed the enthusiasm up even further. Meanwhile, Writer Song Eun-hee silently stared hard at Moon Ji-a.

"......"

She was completely spacing out. This was Writer Song Eun-hee's first time seeing top actress Moon Ji-a in person, and inside, she couldn't stop marveling.

'Wow, fuck. She's fucking gorgeous. What the hell? Is she even human? Even the word goddess isn't enough, is it? I'd believe it if someone said her looks were made by AI. Even her voice is nice.'

Soon, Moon Ji-a noticed her gaze and met Writer Song Eun-hee's eyes.

"Writer-nim?"

"...Yes? Ah! Yes!!"

"Do I have something on my face? You kept staring."

"No! Ah! You're soooo pretty. I ended up staring in a daze without even realizing it."

"Aha."

Moon Ji-a smiled and replied.

"You're pretty too, Writer-nim?"

"What??? No, no, no, compared to Moon Ji-a nim, I'm just a squid!"

Moon Ji-a laughed pleasantly and smoothly slid into the seat beside Kang Jae-ha. For an instant, the sweet scent of perfume brushed past Jae-ha's nose. Regardless, Moon Ji-a spoke.

"Y-you did??"

"......Thank you."

Then Kang Jae-ha, wearing Director Kim Ha-jae's face, looked at Moon Ji-a's profile and smiled faintly.

'She's a pro. A real pro.'

There was a reason Moon Ji-a was the best of the best.

'I'm sure some of it's sincere, but she's mixing in just enough lip service to completely win over the PD and writer. She's already started building the relationship.'

There was a saying that dramas were a writer's game. If the writer and actor had a good relationship, then naturally, the writer would put more care even into the same scene. After all, wasn't it work done by people? If they were going to do it anyway, portraying the female lead as prettier and more impressive would only increase her impact on the viewing public.

'And that directly affects the actor's own popularity.'

A top-tier celebrity's image had both a visible side and a hidden side. The visible side was the image seen by the public, while the hidden side was the impression shaped by people on set, such as PDs and writers. A top-tier actor naturally had to manage both, and from Jae-ha's perspective, Moon Ji-a was extremely savvy.

'Bringing her to MEG was the right call.'

Maybe things had been different in the past, but these days an entertainer's 'character' was also a major factor in popularity. Kang Jae-ha had chosen Moon Ji-a only after thoroughly looking into that side of her as well. As Moon Ji-a continued talking with PD Do Jin-deok and Writer Song Eun-hee, she smiled broadly.

"I'm looking forward to the day we start filming."

PD Do Jin-deok and Writer Song Eun-hee were already completely taken with Moon Ji-a.

"I'm absolutely dying to get Moon Ji-a ssi in front of my camera as soon as possible, hahaha."

"I'm so, so excited too! I can't believe Moon Ji-a nim is the female lead of our 'The Cooking Teacher of Joseon'......"

Still smiling, Moon Ji-a glanced at Kang Jae-ha seated to her right. Her eyes seemed to be saying something like, 'I did well, right?' Jae-ha gave an almost imperceptible nod and thought to himself.

'Right. I can handle the buildup, but it makes for a better picture if the female lead herself delivers the payoff properly.'

A little while later.

After finishing their meeting with 'MEG', PD Do Jin-deok and Writer Song Eun-hee left the building. The moment they stepped outside, the freckled Writer Song Eun-hee sharply exhaled.

"Haa, I thought I was going to die from the tension. What the hell even happened in there?"

PD Do Jin-deok patted her shoulder and laughed.

"Our 'The Cooking Teacher of Joseon' just landed a new investor, Moon Ji-a, and Yoon Da-yeon. It's huge, absolutely huge. But......this is a first even for me, so it does feel a little unreal."

"Right?! I'm scared I'll wake up and find out it was all a dream."

"It's not a dream. It's real. Believe it, believe it. I'm going to call the director right away-"

PD Do Jin-deok muttered as he pulled out his phone, then flinched. A call was coming in. It was from 'GOO Production'. The timing was almost uncanny, with them calling the moment he stepped out of 'MEG'.

'These guys weren't watching us from somewhere or what?'

Perhaps feeling oddly self-conscious, PD Do Jin-deok glanced around, his naturally ruddy face unchanged. Soon, he took a small breath.

'Good. Better to just tell them quickly.'

He put the phone to his ear. A deep male voice from 'GOO Production' immediately came through.

"Hello, PD-nim."

"Haha, hello, Chief."

"Sorry, but I can't exactly give you a warm greeting. PD-nim, you still haven't convinced Writer Song?"

"Ah, about that."

"Ha... PD-nim. How many days has this been now? 'GOO Production' can only keep making allowances for you for so long. Seems you don't want our investment, PD-nim."

"Come on, of course that's not true."

"Just arrange a meeting. We'll meet Writer Song ourselves."

"That won't be necessary."

"No. If we leave this entirely to you, PD-nim, we won't go into production until the year after next."

PD Do Jin-deok met the eyes of Writer Song Eun-hee, who had moved closer, and answered without hesitation.

"There's no need. We've decided to stop proceeding with the contract with 'GOO Production'."

"......What?"

"We're rejecting your contract offer."

"W-wait, PD-nim. What do you mean by that?"

"Things worked out that way for various reasons. We'll see each other on another project sometime. Goodbye."

-Click.

PD Do Jin-deok hung up without hesitation. After all, he'd been putting up with something close to Abuse of Power from 'GOO Production' all this time.

"Man, that feels good."

It felt as though something that had been clogged up inside him had burst wide open with a bang!

The next morning, the 27th.

Kang Jae-ha checked Youtube first thing in the morning. Netflix Korea had just uploaded a fresh teaser trailer to Youtube. Just as Executive Director Heo Seong-jin had tipped him off beforehand, it was the trailer for 'Moonless Village'.

-Moonless Village | 1st Official Teaser Trailer | Netflix

The runtime wasn't very long. Around thirty seconds? Of course, by the second or third trailer, the runtime would probably grow to over a minute. Anyway, despite its brevity, the teaser trailer for 'Moonless Village' contained quite a lot. The fact that it was a spin-off of 'House of the Daytime Moon', the protagonist, a few shots of action scenes, its expansive world, and.

-♬♪

The main OST 'Wolhyang', composed, written, and sung by Choi Ri-na, also played briefly in the background.

For now, the existing fans of 'House of the Daytime Moon' were the first to pile into the comments.

-Wow.......fuck......Moonless Village is finally coming out

-ㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅠㅠI've been waiting!!!

-Wonder if I'll get that same feeling I got watching House of the Daytime Moon??

-Think launching it on Netflix was the right call haha, there's way more freedom

-Look at that quality? This is insane ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Even the trailer looks fun!!

-Ha....I want to watch it already!!! Hope they keep making more of this....

-The music gets a pass, at least

-↑fr, I came during the gayageum intro

-If it's launching on Netflix, that means it could reach overseas too ㅋㅋㅋㅋ kinda curious whether K-animation will catch on abroad

-The visuals are already more than gorgeous enough, please just let the direction be good ㅠㅠㅠ I'm seriously praying

-Same director and production crew too ㅋㅋㅋㅋ nice, nice!! I'm getting my hopes up, okay??!

-MEG's everywhere lately

-Holy shit, what is up with that insert song? It fits perfectly

-Ha.....how long has it been since we got an animated movie with this much Korean flavor....fucking hyped

Of course, there were quite a few negative comments too.

-Looks boring as hell already

-Why's everyone dickriding this so hard ㅋㅋㅋㅋ the quality's just whatever

-House of the Daytime Moon was decent, but sequels never beat the original

-The quality doesn't look bad~ but I'm not really feeling it ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-House of the Daytime Moon was boring too, so this'll probably be the same?

-Launching on Netflix, are they seriously aiming for the global market? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ As if that's gonna work

Still, the positive reactions far outnumbered the negative ones. About seven to three? In any case, the teaser trailer for 'Moonless Village' shot past 100,000 views in no time. At this pace, it looked like it would hit a million soon too.

Just like that, 'Moonless Village' caught fire the moment its teaser trailer was released, and a few hours later, Leon Entertainment made its move.

More precisely, should it be said that Kang Jae-ha made his move? Two new music videos were uploaded to Kisera's official Youtube channel. They were the official music videos for the new songs 'BBlink!' and 'Starlight Error', which would serve as the opening salvo for the group's Comeback after its Rebuilding.

-Kisera - 'BBlink!' Official MV

-Kisera - 'Starlight Error' Official MV

It wasn't their formal debut yet, but this was as good as Kisera's official launch. After confirming that the music videos had been uploaded properly, Kang Jae-ha immediately passed instructions to another team.

"Let's push the overseas viral marketing a little more aggressively."

In fact, viral marketing for 'Kisera' overseas was already underway. He meant for them to add even more momentum to it.

Then, two days later, on Kisera's official music videos.

-such a dreamy concept. absolutely love the song!

-I'm not their fan but I'm so addicted to this song

-I must say, they really made a good song. Especially their soothing voice's blends with this kind of music.

-They really had good potential!!

(Roughly, praise for Kisera's songs)

English comments suddenly began multiplying.

*****

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