The Model and the Ad Concept
MG Construction headquarters, 23rd floor conference room.
In the center of the wall, the words THE NEXT LANDMARK glowed with a soft, understated light.
Autumn sunlight poured through the floor-to-ceiling glass and stretched long across the conference room floor.
The door opened, and a man in a sharp suit stepped inside.
He was tall, with a balanced, well-built frame. Beneath his slightly wavy hair, his clear eyes caught the light. His straight nose led down to lips that curved neatly in an attractive line.
Behind him came the head of his agency’s management team.
"Hello. I'm actor Han Seo-jun, and I'll be working as the model for MG Construction's new advertisement. Thank you sincerely for choosing me."
The man bowed deeply.
At that moment, the heavy silence that had settled over the conference room softened.
The head of marketing smiled and gestured him over.
"Welcome. You must have had a long trip."
At the conference table, the creative director and AE from the ad agency were already seated. On the marketing director’s right, beside the head of public relations, sat another familiar face.
Park Hyun-wook, a business reporter.
He was on close terms with the director and handled MG Construction’s brand stories often.
He had switched on a small recorder instead of a camera, and now he glanced sideways at Han Seo-jun.
"...Hmm."
After clearing his throat, the director lowered his eyes to the documents in his hand, then slowly ran them over Han Seo-jun from head to toe once more.
"Han Seo-jun, how old are you?"
"Twenty-three."
"He’s the handsomest male actor I’ve seen this year in his twenties. He has a refined air, too."
As if muttering to himself, the director gave a low hum.
"If we capture his image properly, he could come across as quite elegant. That should help reassure the people who were worried about the direction of the ad."
The public relations manager seated beside him chimed in as well.
"I heard he’s about to start filming a drama? As the leader of an idol team, right?"
"Yes. Crank-in is scheduled for next Wednesday. It won’t interfere with the ad schedule."
As Team Leader Ju Tae-hwan quickly answered, the director gave a slight nod.
"Actually, the concept for this campaign was planned around a newlywed couple’s first home... Hmm... He does look younger than expected, so we may need to adjust the image."
After saying that, the director’s gaze swept over Han Seo-jun’s face again, as though measuring it.
"If we frame him to look suitably grown-up, I think it might work..."
He bit his lip, clearly thinking, and the ad agency director sitting beside him spoke up carefully.
"Still, if we overlap with his role as the lead in an idol drama, it could clash a little with the ‘newlywed couple’ image the public will expect. We might need some adjustment. Perhaps we should broaden the concept a bit more..."
"Hmm..."
The public relations manager beside the director pointed lightly at Han Seo-jun.
"I think the actor’s image is extremely likable, so rather than focusing on 'newlywed,' it might feel more natural to lean into 'a fresh start.' People in their twenties and thirties are leaning toward single living more than marriage these days, so a tone like 'buying your first home' might fit better."
"But having a young man appear alone in an ad like that seems a little..."
The director tilted his head again.
He liked the model himself very much, but he had drifted far from the campaign concept they had first pushed forward.
MG Construction’s image, after all, was ultimately about family.
Living alone might be called a one-person household, but from an economic perspective, the apartment buyers that a construction company targeted were couples and their future plans.
Children had to be born, families had to grow, and as they did, demand for larger apartments would rise. That process was directly tied to the company’s future.
"What if we shift the concept to lovers?"
At the ad agency director’s sudden suggestion, the public relations manager’s eyes lit up.
"Oh, that actually sounds good. Rather than rigidly clinging to the image of a married couple, it could be enough to show a girlfriend visiting her boyfriend’s place and the two of them being sweet together."
Seeing the PR manager brighten and agree, the director added one more point.
"If we cast a rookie actor as the opposite lead, the image will feel much fresher. It’ll also help boost public favorability compared to an actor who’s already been overexposed. If we keep the age around the early-to-mid twenties, it’ll naturally match the tone of young lovers."
The PR manager nodded.
"That sounds entirely possible. If they’re a rookie, there won’t be as much backlash either. Then the ad message can really hold people’s attention."
The director, who had been silent for a while as if lost in thought, tapped a finger lightly against the table before finally speaking.
"All right. Then who should play the opposite lead?"
"I think Hong Yoon-hwa would be suitable. She’s been rising in popularity with younger viewers lately, and she still hasn’t been exposed too much in the media, so she should fit the concept we want."
"...Hong Yoon-hwa, huh... Hmm..."
The lines between the director’s brows deepened.
The actor for the ad had already been fixed as Han Seo-jun.
Now it was time to draw up a picture that matched that starting point as well as possible.
***
On the way back to the office.
Team Leader Ju Tae-hwan, seated in the back, let out a low sigh. Hwang Dong-jun, driving, caught his expression in the rearview mirror and asked, "Why? Didn’t it go well? They said they liked Seo-jun, too."
"It did, but the opposite actor feels like a waste."
"The opposite lead? Who... do you have some actor in mind?"
When Hwang Dong-jun asked innocently, Ju Tae-hwan’s face twisted.
"Hey, what about Hwa-young?"
"Ah~ They said they wanted someone less exposed, didn’t they? Lee Hwa-young isn’t bad, but... she’s not exactly an 'untainted image,' you know."
"Why not? We can emphasize her purity. Didn’t you see how Hwa-young pulled off a girl in her teens all the way up to a woman in her forties on her own in that drama last year?"
Confidence practically dripped from Ju Tae-hwan’s face.
No matter how much of a nuclear bomb her temper was, he genuinely acknowledged her acting.
"That was a drama. This is a fifteen-second commercial. The image is completely different."
"We can make that kind of image, too. What can’t we do these days? Get the right lighting, put on some good retouching, and even I could... huh? Maybe not Seo-jun, but I could transform into Ju-young-level."
"Come on. That’s fraud."
Hwang Dong-jun shook his head in disbelief.
"That’s not even exaggeration. If we get sued for false advertising, this company will be ruined in no time."
"You little—"
Ju Tae-hwan barked in outrage, then clicked his tongue.
"For your information, I was street-cast in my early twenties too, punk!"
"Thank goodness they turned you down back then. You saved twenty years’ worth of Korean cinema’s darkest history."
Still staring straight ahead at the road, Hwang Dong-jun kept needling him in a mischievous tone.
"You brat... Wait till we get back to the company. Seriously, wait, okay?"
I could understand how he felt.
But even so, not Hwa-young.
They’d have to stand face-to-face, looking into each other’s eyes with affectionate smiles, then even hold hands and hug...
Just imagining it sent chills racing over my whole body.
I knew I couldn’t choose my co-star, but did they really have to push me into something that extreme?
"By the way, who is Hong Yoon-hwa?"
"Why? You don’t know Hong Yoon-hwa?"
My question must have surprised them, because both Hwang Dong-jun at the wheel and Ju Tae-hwan in the back stared at me.
"Early last year, when those memes about you not being able to act were all over the place, Hong Yoon-hwa uploaded a video saying you still had potential. The comment section went crazy after that."
".....!"
Of course I wouldn’t know about something like that.
If it was last year, that was before I entered this body.
"And later on, you even went onto Hong Yoon-hwa’s channel to thank her in person."
At Hwang Dong-jun’s words, Ju Tae-hwan nodded.
"Anyway, that was when she really blew up as a YouTuber. Before that, she was pushing some concept like 'A Morning for Reading Poetry' or whatever. You really think a channel like that would’ve gotten big? But once people started calling her 'the girl who praised Han Seo-jun,' she became famous overnight. Your fans all swarmed her and filled the comments with support."
"Right. Her image was clean, she was pretty, and she had a certain atmosphere, too. Because of that, she got a couple of appearances in web dramas, and then even landed a minor role in an MBS weekend drama."
"Maybe that’s why MG Construction brought up Hong Yoon-hwa’s name. If they film the ad with that connection, it’ll seem even more convincing."
In that case, maybe it wasn’t a bad card for me after all.
I’d watched YouTube now and then, but I had no idea why she had never surfaced in my algorithm.
Usually something would pop up at least once, even when you didn’t want it to, right?
Well, I wasn’t particularly interested, so maybe I’d simply glanced over it and forgotten.
I quickly pulled out my phone and typed her name into the search bar.
A moment later, her face appeared in the thumbnail on the screen.
Judging by the fact that it still didn’t look familiar, I really must not have seen her before.
My memory was pretty decent, after all.
Once something caught my eye, I usually didn’t forget it.
Still, it wasn’t a bad feeling to know she had once looked on me favorably.
But I’d reserve judgment for now.
The one creature in this world you should trust least was a human being.
***
Another week passed like lightning.
Today was finally the first day of filming for Possessed by a Trash Idol Friend.
The waiting room on the third floor of the broadcasting station was already a battlefield.
Staff moved in and out in a frenzy, and the camera team carried tripods around while checking the lighting angles.
"We’re starting the lighting test! Bring the reflector a little closer on this side!"
At someone’s shout, the atmosphere in the waiting room grew even hotter.
Director Kang So-hee stood before the large monitor, headset on, checking the camera angles.
The space was filled with a blend of makeup, hairspray, coffee, and snacks.
Off to the side, two other idol teams were waiting.
Their outfits differed only in color, but the tension hanging over their faces was no different.
Apparently they were pre-debut trainees, and the four members besides me were chatting with them naturally.
From what I heard, they were members who had been narrowly eliminated at the final stage of a TV survival program.
If they could stand in front of a camera like this, it might give their debut a small boost.
Even that had been narrowed down from a huge pool of applicants, selecting only those whose images and vibes fit the role.
The first scene to be filmed was the one where I suddenly collapse in the waiting room right before the audition.
In the original version, it should have started from New York, but shooting order always prioritized efficiency.
So the first take would begin with the moment Gang Woo-jin became possessed by Han Woo-hyun at age twenty.
"Ha... I’m nervous."
The member who had caught my eye let out a long breath.
He was a year younger than me, but in the drama he was cast as Choi Ye-jun, a character one year older.
Out of the others, he had to match me most often in the scenes we shared.
His blond hair had now been dyed purple.
Still, as an idol who’d once stood at the top, he pulled the color off perfectly.
"Want a herbal pill?"
At my question, he shook his head.
"I already took one a little while ago. If I take any more, I think I’ll end up with indigestion before I suffer from side effects."
"You’ve got all your lines memorized, right?"
"Of course. I’m going to work hard. But..."
He hesitated for a moment, then spoke with a careful expression.
"Please keep giving me feedback during filming. I really want to do well."
His eyes shone as though he had made a solemn vow.
"All right. Let’s work hard together."
"Yes, hyung. Please take care of me. I’m counting on you."
His bright, eager eyes fixed on me.
Even through the nerves, he was full of hope.
"During filming, hyung, you’re my savior."
As if he had really met a god, he grabbed my hand with both of his.
"Me too. Me too."
As the member playing the leader crouched down in front of me, he said,
"Hey, that’s unfair! Don’t leave us out!"
The other two members quickly crowded in beside me as well.
"All right, let’s begin rehearsal! Everyone take your positions!"
One of the staff members called out through a megaphone.
At last, it was time for the first scene to begin shooting.
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