Chapter 24
Chapter 24
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Promotion Team Leader
-----------------------------------------------------------------
No matter how rushed the movie shoot is, you still have to eat.
Director Son Tae-min said this while digging into his bowl of rice soup.
"I had such high expectations after that amazing lunch, and dinner doesn't disappoint."
The assistant director chimed in.
"It's seriously spicy and delicious."
"It's such a shame. I want to eat this tomorrow too, but I can't ask the guy handling our action scenes to cook on top of everything else."
The assistant director asked while eating his rice soup.
"Director, don't you think this would be even better with some soju?"
"Right? This is the kind of flavor that makes you crave soju."
Son Tae-min had to stay up all night revising the script after today's shoot. Drinking now would ruin both the script and the movie.
"A whole week without booze. What a bummer."
THO Entertainment President Lee Tae-ho spoke up from the side.
"Once our movie's done, I'll buy some premium hanwoo beef and traditional soju. Hang in there for today."
"Haha. You really know your stuff, President Lee. Let's have a drink together then."
"You bet."
Lee Tae-ho turned his head toward the food truck where Na Gang-in was.
"You'll join us for that after-party too, right, Mr. Na?"
"Uh... sure?"
A staff member who had been eating while scrolling on their smartphone suddenly let out a surprised yelp from a short distance away.
"Huh? Why is this popping up here?"
People turned to look at the staff member.
Director Son Tae-min asked.
"What's going on?"
The staff member held up their smartphone.
"It's the Minji rescue video."
"Hey, I told you to keep that under wraps. Why do you have it on your phone...."
"It's all over the internet!"
THO Entertainment President Lee Tae-ho shot up from his seat, shouting.
"How the hell did it get online?! Who dared to upload it?!"
The staff member, who had stumbled upon the video while browsing, shrank back.
"Pardon? I, I don't know...."
"It has to be someone here!"
Lee Tae-ho barked orders at Kim Manager.
"Contact the PR team and tell them to take down my daughter's video right now—no, I'll handle it myself!"
He called the company PR team leader.
- Yes, President. PR Team Leader speaking.
"Take down a video from the internet immediately."
- Is it a scandal?
"It's not a scandal!"
Lee Tae-ho explained the situation to the PR team leader and ordered the video removed. He then glared around at everyone, fuming.
'One of these people must have leaked it. An actor, a staff member, or maybe one of those detectives eating over there.'
A moment later, the PR team leader called back. But his tone wasn't good.
- President, this didn't come from a news outlet. It's spreading through SNS and online forums.
"So?"
- We're requesting takedowns from sites as we find them, but....
"Is that too hard?"
- It's already on foreign sites. Blocking it domestically won't help when it flows back in from overseas.
Lee Tae-ho wasn't the type to scream that impossible things must be done. His voice turned icy.
"Then find the original leaker first."
- Yes! We'll do our absolute best!
Director Son Tae-min was grabbing staff members, demanding to know who leaked it.
"Who was it?! Confess, and I'll spare your life!"
Lee Tae-ho watched coldly for a moment, then sighed.
"Hoo."
He called Jang Mi-jeong.
"Mi-jeong-ah. Don't get mad, just listen."
- What mess did you cause now?
Lee Tae-ho swallowed hard before explaining.
"It wasn't me, exactly...."
- Then who?
"The Minji rescue video. It's... leaked online. It's spreading too fast to stop."
- Oh, that?
Lee Tae-ho bellowed unnecessarily.
"Don't worry! I'll find the bastard who leaked it and smash—"
- Minji posted it.
Lee Tae-ho's eyes widened.
"Pardon?"
- I showed it to her because she wanted to see it, and it cheered her right up. She said the snack uncle is like a hero and got all excited, insisting on posting it online to spread the word about how cool he is.
"Oh? And then?"
- Of course I told her to go ahead.
"R-right, I see."
- Why? Is there a problem?
Lee Tae-ho glanced at Son Tae-min, who was still yelling at the staff to confess.
"No, I just realized someone needs stopping right now. I'll call you back."
Lee Tae-ho hung up and rushed to Son Tae-min.
"Director Son! A word, please!"
Son Tae-min was now yelling at the actors too.
"I'm disappointed in all of you!"
Lee Tae-ho shouted urgently.
"Director, stop!"
"I thought you all at least knew to hold it together!"
"Stop! That's not it—stop!"
Without Na Gang-in around, the PC bang had fewer customers. Still more than before, but the part-timers had some downtime.
It was President’s niece Cha Eun-seo’s shift right now.
Night-shift part-timer Yoon A-reum’s studio apartment had burned down, leaving her nowhere to go. So she did her school assignments at the PC bang during the day. When she had no plans, she hung out here too.
Sometimes when things got busy, she’d run errands even outside her shift. That’s how she scored free meals.
Right now, there were hardly any customers or orders.
Cha Eun-seo and Yoon A-reum were at the counter, watching the video blowing up online. It was the one of Na Gang-in stopping the fleeing van and rescuing Minji.
The video was flooded with comments.
Cha Eun-seo said while watching the video.
"Whoa, we have to see this movie when it comes out. Wanna go together, A-reum?"
"Obviously. Though...."
Yoon A-reum tilted her head while watching.
"Doesn't this guy look like Oppa Gang-in?"
"Huh? You can tell faces apart?"
The video was shot from a hilltop.
When Na Gang-in ran down the slope, he was too far for a clear shot without zooming. And it was only his back.
When he jumped onto the car, smashed the engine, and fought the kidnappers, his profile showed, but from even farther away.
Plus, this wasn't the original. It was a compressed copy for reference, so quality was lower.
Spotting a face from the online version alone was tough.
Yoon A-reum pointed at the man in the video.
"Same build as Oppa Gang-in. And if it's not CG, you'd need someone like him to pull off stunts like that."
"Huh? What's his cooking got to do with action?"
"Well...."
When Yoon A-reum was trapped on a burning building's rooftop, Na Gang-in scaled the wall barefoot and saved her. Escaping, he carried her across to the next building on a tightrope.
No normal person could pull that off, even risking their life.
And this guy in the video seemed to be fighting with the same reckless abandon.
Of course, it wasn't certain.
"Even Oppa Gang-in might not manage this?"
"No one could. And why would he be in it? He's doing food truck duty today—no time for shooting and CG."
Yoon A-reum had also bought into the idea that the video had some CG.
"Yeah, CG doesn't pop out in hours. Guess not."
The PR team leader reported to Lee Tae-ho.
- The video's spreading too fast. Reporters will catch on soon, and articles will drop. Then Minji's near-kidnapping will come out inevitably.
"What's the plan?"
- Better to steer it our way from the start than let negative stories run.
"How?"
- Tie it to movie promo. We can claim we dropped it first.
Lee Tae-ho scowled.
"Use my daughter's ordeal for movie hype?"
- Not quite. Everyone already thinks it's promo. We'll seed that with reporters first.
"And witnesses?"
- All ours or cops. We can gag them.
"Truth will out eventually. Plenty of witnesses."
- This incident's fresh, but the old one's done. We just need a month—or ten days—to buy time.
"Stalling isn't the whole strategy, right?"
- If our movie hits big, we can reframe Minji not as victim, but key player in the rescue.
"Using the reshoots toward action, huh."
- Yes. Best shot.
Lee Tae-ho pondered.
No guarantees it'd work. If it backfired, the company takes heat.
But no better ideas.
"Hoo. Fine. Do it. If issues pop, I'll empty my accounts to fix it. Push hard."
- On it.
A reporter picked up a call from THO Entertainment's PR team leader.
"Ah, Team Leader Koo. Haha. Heading to dinner with the other reporters. Wanna join?"
- Sorry, department's swamped today.
"Busy, huh? Bus...."
The reporter's eyes lit up. Busy folks don't call reporters for chit-chat.
"Got some juicy news?"
- That video online today of a guy jumping onto a moving car and fighting?
"Oh, that one? Saw it."
- Ours. Promo for our film.
"No way! THO's movie? Killer video. CG was top-notch. Who handled it?"
- Can't say details yet.
"Then why call?"
- Our film Sunny Day? Release soon. Hoping for a nice article.
"Ah, sure. Got dinner plans, so call back la—hahaha."
After hanging up, a colleague asked.
"What?"
"Movie promo. Sunny Day."
The colleague snickered.
"That one's star got busted at a drug party. Promo won't save a flop."
"THO invested directly. Wanna recoup something."
"Coulda bought drinks then."
"No booze, but tossed a tidbit. Seen that moving-car fight video online today?"
"Yeah."
"THO made it."