Chapter 180: Meaningful Support
At Flash Entertainment headquarters, the air in the company had been hanging heavy lately, and the employees could only keep their heads down and watch the atmosphere.
“There’s still no news about Ryu Sunho’s contract renewal, right...?”
“None... But would he really renew with us? I heard he’s been in contact with Hollywood agencies.”
“I heard some of the other major agencies even offered him a blank check.”
Dark rumors drifted through the hallways.
The atmosphere was especially icy in Management Team 2, the team dedicated to Ryu Sunho.
The team members only stared at their monitors, and even the sound of typing felt cautious.
Bang!
Just then, the office door flew open roughly.
It was Team Leader Jo Sehun, who had gone up to the CEO’s office.
In his hand was a blue approval file.
All the team members’ eyes locked onto that file at once.
“Team Leader...?”
Road manager Jeong Daeyeop carefully opened his mouth.
Without saying a word, Team Leader Jo Sehun strode over, slammed the file folder down on the desk with a thud, then let out a deep sigh.
“Haa......”
Was that a sigh of dread?
Or a sigh of relief?
Stylist Woo Minha and makeup artist Yoon Heeju swallowed hard and tightly gripped each other’s hands.
After dragging it out for a moment, the corners of Jo Sehun’s mouth slowly twitched upward.
“Pack your bags.”
“What? Pack our bags?”
“Is our team getting disbanded?”
“No, pack for Hollywood.”
“......Huh?!”
“Sunho signed!”
For a moment, silence fell over the office.
And then, one second later—
“Waaaaaaah!”
“Kyaa! No way! Really? Really?!”
Jeong Daeyeop shot to his feet and threw both hands in the air, while Woo Minha and Yoon Heeju hugged each other and jumped up and down.
“Are we really going to Hollywood? We’re going to LA?”
“That’s right. We’ll additionally hire a local agent and collaborate, but the basic care will still go with us. So start studying English hard.”
After that, the rumor spread in an instant.
“Did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“Management Team 2 renewed with Mr. Sunho! It’s for five years!”
“Holy shit! What?!”
“Oh, thank goodness!!”
In the break room, in the hallways, in the smoking room, the gloomy atmosphere in the company flipped into celebration in an instant.
The most excited of all was Team Leader Lee Seokjun from the Promotion & Marketing Team.
Hadn’t the existence of Ryu Sunho quietly given them the upper hand in their tug-of-war with entertainment reporters?
He had no idea how anxious he had been over the possibility of losing that reliable shield.
But now—
“This is it!”
With the corners of his mouth stretched high, Team Leader Lee Seokjun shouted to his team, “It’s been a while, so let’s scatter some feed. Call every reporter. Tell them our Actor Ryu Sunho stayed loyal to Flash Entertainment! Tell them he’s taking Hollywood with us too!”
“Yes! Understood!”
Just as the team members grabbed their phones and started moving, Lee Seokjun urgently added, “Ah, wait. Stop!”
“Yes?”
“Leave one out.”
“Who?”
“Who else? That idiot reporter Ahn Gihun.”
Lee Seokjun’s face hardened coldly.
“Never give that side any source at all. Don’t let a single drop leak. If he writes an article based on our press release, jump on him with fact-checking and make his life miserable.”
The entertainment section of the internet portals flipped in real time.
Every time you hit refresh, articles stamped with Ryu Sunho’s name came pouring out like mushrooms after rain.
[Ryu Sunho signs a 5-year renewal with current agency ‘Flash’... “Protected trust and loyalty”]
[Turns away Hollywood love calls and stays with current agency... Ryu Sunho’s exceptional path]
[Flash Entertainment succeeds in renewing with Ryu Sunho... “Promises full support”]
[Ryu Sunho secures equity in agency and becomes a partner... “We will grow together”]
At the exact same time that entertainment reporters across Korea were hammering away at their keyboards, there was one place, and one place only, wrapped in a strange silence.
The office of the entertainment-specialized outlet ActFact.
“Hey, didn’t the press release come? Check the inbox.”
“...It didn’t.”
“What about spam? Trash?”
“I checked everything. Nothing. And apparently no one else got it either. I think Flash left only us out on purpose.”
“Ha... They’re really ruthless.”
The editor-in-chief clutched his head.
Other outlets, even if they did not have exclusives, were still weaving in simple contract terms or behind-the-scenes details into their articles, but ActFact had not even been able to confirm the basic facts and was stuck copying other people’s articles.
The reason was obvious.
They were being thoroughly frozen out by Flash Entertainment.
And not only that, interview requests to Flash actors were being repeatedly rejected.
Everyone knew why, even without anyone bothering to say it.
“I mean, you should’ve shown at least some restraint. Why did you keep comparing Gong Hajin and Ryu Sunho and tearing him down like that?”
“Exactly. And that Gong Hajin Reporter Ahn used to suck up to so much has totally fallen into ruin now. He’s basically on the retirement track after drunk driving.”
“That’s why his form has been terrible lately. Every article he uploads gets bombarded with angry reactions.”
“He’s away from his desk all day again today. Where did he go?”
“Doesn’t even seem like he’s out covering anything. I heard production companies and PR agencies don’t invite Reporter Ahn anymore either. The reaction is too bad, so they’re afraid the backlash will splash onto their work.”
“Leave him alone. I guess even he knows he ought to be ashamed.”
The reporters clicked their tongues as they looked over at Reporter Ahn Gihun’s empty seat.
A place that had once been cluttered with piles of documents had somehow become noticeably bare.
“Hey, hey, that’s enough. Looks like it won’t be long now anyway. Don’t poke at him. Just leave him alone.”
Meanwhile, once it was made official that Ryu Sunho had renewed with Flash Entertainment, the other entertainment agencies that had been licking their chops could only swallow their disappointment like dogs watching chickens fly up to the roof.
The Hollywood agencies that had prepared huge bets also had no choice but to smack their lips bitterly and return home.
On the other hand, the temperature in Ryu Sunho’s official fan café, Seonhosasang, was the complete opposite.
The renewal is out!!!!
God Flash, loyalty loyalty ^^7
Honestly, I was scared ㅠ
Staying loyal is so Ryu Sunho. He’s amazing ㅠㅠ
The fans let out sighs of relief.
In truth, they had been prepared to support Ryu Sunho wherever he went, but they had seen countless stars get their activities disrupted or get dragged into controversy because of agency transfer issues, so they had secretly been anxious.
Now he had even gained the title of man of loyalty, so of course their shoulders rose with pride as fans.
But everyone, shouldn’t we start preparing for that now?
That? What do you mean?
Ah! Our Sunho’s birthday?!
OMG right! It’s already next month!
Ryu Sunho’s birthday was right around the corner.
The fandom’s energy instantly gathered around discussions of birthday support.
This time we seriously need to make it the biggest ever
└ Agreed, agreed. With Cannes, Hollywood, and the renewal all happening at once, it’s a triple celebration
Ammunition is ready! Where do we fire it?
I saw a really nice luxury watch last time
What about a wallet???!!
Everyone was excitedly listing expensive gift ideas when a longtime prominent fan, Seonhosasang’s vice president, Seonho Fire Department, cautiously offered an opinion.
How about we do things a little differently this time?
└ Differently how?
Sunho always says it, doesn’t he? Not to spend money on expensive gifts for him. That he’ll accept the thought, and that we should use that money on a gift for ourselves instead
└ That’s true...
└ Our Sunho really does love his fans ㅠㅠ
That opinion sent a quiet ripple through the hearts of the fans.
So what I mean is, what if we did something more meaningful as support this time?
└ Like what?
Sunho donates a lot normally, and this time he even won at Cannes Lions with the organ donation campaign, right? So what if we carry on Sunho’s positive influence too? By participating in donations.
For a moment, the speed of the message board slowed, and then approving comments began pouring in explosively.
I love it!!!
Sunho would definitely like this way more than expensive luxury goods!!!!
I’ll participate too!!
Let’s really live up to the name Seonhosasang for once!!
And so, not just a simple tribute, but a beautiful donation project that would carry on Ryu Sunho’s intentions began to take root.
On the way back to Seoul after finishing an outdoor brand photoshoot, I sank deep into the back seat and stared into the empty air in front of me.
More precisely, I had opened the status window visible only to me and was looking at the rewards I still had not used.
【S-Rank Rank-Up Ticket x1】
【Remaining Stat Points: 5】
During the elevator pitch, I had deliberately not invested them.
At the time, I had judged that planning ability and boldness would be more effective than acting skill or appearance.
But now it’s real combat.
Filming for Quentin’s movie was just around the corner, and I had to match up against some of the best actors in the world.
If I wanted to survive among them—
No, if I wanted to seize the initiative and hold the center of the story—
then I needed to sharpen at least one weapon for certain.
After a long period of thought, I reached my conclusion.
Dialogue Delivery is the right investment.
My goal, after all, was to become the best actor in the world.
Appearance could only be pushed to second priority.
Looking at my current stats, I already have S in Emotional Expression and S in Physical Acting.
The engine that drew out inner emotion was already perfect.
The hardware that expressed that emotion through the body was also top-class.
But only Dialogue Delivery, the realm of sound through which that emotion was released outward, remained stuck at A+.
One side of the triangle is lacking.
If I wanted to become the world’s greatest actor, I could not allow even 0.1 percent leakage.
Especially when the role in Check Mate, Alex Han, was a multiple-personality character.
Six personalities, no less.
Pawn, Knight, Bishop, Rook, Queen, and King crossed back and forth constantly, and even if the audience closed their eyes and only listened to the sound, they had to be able to tell instantly which personality had emerged.
The power to punch lines directly through the screen and into the audience’s brain.
I had to show overwhelming command if I wanted to shed the label of Asian actor in Hollywood.
And it would leave an incredibly powerful impact too.
That was the clearest road toward my final goal.
Once the decision was made, hesitation disappeared.
【Would you like to use the S-Rank Rank-Up Ticket?】
【An additional 5 Stat Points will be consumed.】
Yes.
At that moment, it felt as though a cool burst of peppermint exploded from deep inside my throat.
The tip of my tongue sharpened with sensitivity, and the structure inside my mouth felt as if it had been laid out in my mind like a 3D blueprint.
The passages through which breath moved seemed to widen, and the resonance chambers for sound felt as though they were spreading through my whole body.
A certainty rose in me that now, whatever sound I wanted, I could produce it exactly as intended, without error.
And now, in two days, the workshop...
I had been told it would take place at Quentin’s private lodge in the hills outside LA.
A gathering where formidable actors like Evan Harris and Townsend would all be present.
The script reading there would probably be far fiercer and more brutal than what I was used to in Korea.
Hollywood’s trademark direct criticism and open debate might fly back and forth.
There would likely also be gazes full of displeasure at the sight of some green Eastern newcomer grabbing the lead.
Thump, thump—
My heart pounded.
But this was not fear or tension.
It was more like excitement, the impatience of wanting to show them my work as soon as possible.
It had been the same in my past life.
Whenever I headed into a conference room with a killer ad I had stayed up all night making, I would grow restless imagining how the client’s expression would change.
What sort of faces will they make at the first line I speak?
I was already looking forward to it.