Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Is the Author Omnipotent? 47
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A week had passed.
In that time, the interviews for the filming crew had wrapped up.
They hired one cinematographer, one lighting technician, plus assistants and editors.
The conditions weren't bad, so they filled the positions quickly.
But the problems weren't over.
"It's the actors that are the issue."
Finding people wasn't impossible.
After posting the casting call, all sorts of folks reached out, and they even held auditions.
The problem was that none of them matched the protagonist.
"Hmm..."
Tae-seong was extremely picky when it came to actors.
He'd shown that in *Her of the Black Knight*.
Back then, he'd rejected even top-tier actresses for the female lead.
The one he ended up casting was Park Eun-bi.
She'd lived up to every expectation.
Perfectly embodying the protagonist, she'd risen to the ranks of the most promising actresses.
Tae-seong had lowered his standards a bit this time.
It was his first solo media production.
He wasn't aiming too high from the start.
But he still wanted to be choosy about the male lead.
Because that actor had to carry *Otherworld Chef*.
Sure, it was episodic, but the core protagonist didn't change.
If the lead actor didn't nail it, the whole production could crumble.
"We can't keep putting this off forever."
Everything else was ready.
Once they locked in the male lead, they could start shooting right away.
"Should I do it myself?"
Tae-seong had lived as the protagonist of *Otherworld Chef*.
Nothing about it would be impossible for him.
Plus, he had some recognition as an actor.
He could generate buzz.
"Hmm..."
Tae-seong spent the night seriously mulling it over.
* * *
Two weeks later.
Tae-seong dove into full production.
The first episode's shoot was at a nearby upscale restaurant.
They rented out the entire place for the day.
"Everyone's checked the script, right?"
"Yes."
"OK!"
"Yes."
There were five supporting actors total.
Two white men and women, two Black actors, and one East Asian.
"Change into the outfits prepped in the waiting room and get ready. We've got a makeup artist on site, so have them check your makeup too."
Tae-seong had hired a makeup artist just for today.
Not on salary, just a one-day contract.
As the actors headed off to prep, Tae-seong went to Oh Young-tae, the cinematographer.
"Director."
"Yes!"
The 31-year-old freelance cinematographer Oh Young-tae had worked on various indie films and TV shows.
But this was his first time directing, so his tension was obvious.
"Don't be too nervous. Nothing tricky in today's shoot. The focus here is the food over the characters, so keep that in mind."
"Yes! Got it!"
After one more pep talk, Tae-seong checked everything over.
Finally, he inspected the ingredients for this prologue episode of *Otherworld Chef*: the Hanwoo beef and garnishes.
'Perfect.'
Everything was flawless.
Soon, the actors emerged in crisp suits, makeup done.
"Alright, let's start filming."
The first shoot of *Otherworld Chef* began.
* * *
The shoot wrapped smoothly.
With Tae-seong handling the overall balance, no major issues cropped up.
Especially since the supporting actors had barely any lines.
The cinematographer had been tense, but a few pointers and he found his rhythm.
"Glad we finished in one day."
Tae-seong loaded the footage and jumped into editing.
The new custom PC made a huge difference.
'Hmm, it looked fine on set, but editing reveals all these unnecessary bits.'
Shooting built the skeleton; editing added the flesh.
Tae-seong had dabbled in editing in a few past lives.
Never professionally, but he knew the basics cold, so it wasn't hard.
Just tedious repetition that ate up time.
"Whew... done."
After rounds of edits, the episode clocked in at 15 minutes.
Considering the full day of shooting, he'd cut a massive amount.
Tae-seong scrutinized the final cut multiple times for tweaks.
"This'll do."
Not perfect, but it cleared his bar.
Tae-seong uploaded it to YouTube.
* * *
Upload it and it might as well be invisible without promo.
YouTube especially—tens of thousands of videos go up worldwide daily.
No one seeks out a lone upload.
It needed promotion.
'In that sense, I'm in a good spot.'
*Otherworld Chef* had wrapped as a novel with a solid fanbase.
Even post-completion, plenty kept it in their favorites.
Tae-seong used the novel platform's mass message feature to ping readers.
[Hello, this is Jeong Tae-seong.]
After a simple greeting, the message announced he'd filmed *Otherworld Chef* as a video for YouTube.
He didn't stop there after hitting send.
He posted the link across his SNS accounts too.
Finally, he met with Grape Books.
"You turned *Otherworld Chef* into a video?"
"Yeah."
Kang Min-woo asked, wide-eyed.
Tae-seong handed over his smartphone.
There was the uploaded *Otherworld Chef* video.
"Can I watch?"
"Of course."
With permission, Kang Min-woo hit play.
"15 minutes long?"
"Self-produced, so full-length episodes had too many hurdles. Went with an omnibus format, splitting into episodes. This one's the prologue."
"Ah."
Kang Min-woo nodded, eyes on the screen.
He started without high hopes.
No big budget, and how good could a YouTube video be?
'Is the author playing the lead?'
Tae-seong in chef whites, cooking.
He looked right at home in the upscale restaurant.
Could pass for a pro chef.
'The prologue in *Otherworld Chef* opens the same way: the main chef in a luxury spot.'
It matched the source perfectly.
"Did you write the script too?"
"Yeah."
What a guy.
Kang Min-woo refocused.
The shots centered not on characters, but the food.
The prep, plating—everything honed in on the cooking.
Foreign extras raving over tastes felt natural.
'But how's this *Otherworld Chef*?'
Food was core, but the backdrop was another world.
About two-thirds in, still real-world setting, he started wondering.
Then the sleeping protagonist wakes—not in his luxe officetel, but a dense forest.
"Oho..."
Straight from the novel.
"Where's this?"
"Bukhansan. Shot off the main trail. Tweaked the plants with CG."
"CG alone makes it look that different."
The foliage sold it—no Korea vibes.
The video rolled on.
The protagonist, lost in the woods, looking more ragged—nailed it.
Then the final scene.
A boy with a spear appears.
"Ooh! Is that Kaif?"
"Yeah."
Kaif was the first otherworlder the protagonist meets in *Otherworld Chef*.
The boy guides him to the village, kicking off the real cooking.
Having seen that much, Kang Min-woo revised his initial take.
"Wow! You captured the original vibe perfectly. Was worried at first, but nah."
"Thanks."
"So, what'd you want to ask?"
"Could you link it at the end of the *Otherworld Chef* webtoon?"
"Got it. I'll run it by upper management and get back to you."
"Thanks."
Tae-seong bowed.
He'd maxed out his promo efforts.
Now it was over to the readers.
* * *
*Otherworld Chef* ranked 6th overall on Grape Books webtoons.
Upload days drew about 720,000 viewers.
'Weekly viewers hit around 1.7 million.'
Huge numbers.
Promoting to them was a massive perk.
'Here we go—starting today.'
It was *Otherworld Chef* update day.
He'd edited the last page of the new chapter to include the YouTube link.
Drew a quick SD-style promo comic with the characters too.
He buzzed with anticipation over reactions.
'Gotta wait till tomorrow at least.'
Tae-seong closed the app and hit the sack.
But sleep didn't come easy.
'Been a while.'
The reason was obvious.
Excitement over unknown results.
From novel to this—*Otherworld Chef* was all his: planning, production, even acting.
Marketing too.
His touch everywhere.
And now results were out.
The catch: no one knew them yet.
Not like a test with set answers.
Answers splintered across tastes of tens, hundreds of thousands.
What the answer was didn't matter.
Did it resonate, entertain the most people?
That counted.
'Yeah, this is fun.'
Tae-seong drifted off, reaffirmed in sharing his story.
* * *
[Views: 213,022]
Next day.
From 50k views to over 200k.
Promo worked.
"Wow, Rep! Views exploded."
Han Seong-ho said as he arrived.
"My little bro watched it—said it was solid. Loved you acting in it most."
Lee Chang-o chimed in.
Others shared hearsay from their circles as they clocked in.
From it all, Tae-seong drew one conclusion.
'Teens to 30s are good; 40s and up, still mixed.'
YouTube offered handy tools.
Analytics for creators, like viewer gender and age brackets.
Average watch time per group.
62% of teens to 30s watched to the end.
40s dropped off sharp.
50s? Just 7% finished.
'Episode 1 showed the protag's job, era. Ended on the incident. Hard to grasp without source knowledge.'
Tae-seong analyzed coolly.
YouTube's algo needed views first for recommendations.
So Episode 1 hooked source fans, story ramping in 2 onward.
He banked on that.
'Not a bad launch.'
Far from satisfied, though.
Tae-seong scheduled Episode 2's shoot.