Filming (3)
Filming (3)
"She's that famous, so don't worry."
"In that case, I'm relieved."
If they used someone like me and the photobook flopped,
I'd just feel sorry for nothing.
I'd feel guilty toward Director Kim Chae-won for having suggested it.
"Shall we move locations soon?"
"Locations? You mean a different spot?"
"Oh come on, I obviously mean the photoshoot location."
We'd been shooting for hours already, and there was still more left?
I was sure we were just about done...!
"Our company doesn't have many concept sets, you know? So we've already rented out a bunch of other places."
"Hiek... a bunch of other places..."
"Which background do you prefer for the first one? School? Indoor garden?"
As if they weren't tired at all, implying they could still take plenty more,
the director and staff sent me chilling smiles that made them even more terrifying.
***
"Great work, everyone!"
Once the director announced that all shooting was complete,
the staff began exchanging thanks with each other for the hard day's work.
This was a greeting treated as basic etiquette at our agency,
so I nodded my head politely over and over, giving thanks to the staff members.
And just as the greetings were wrapping up, the director walked over to me,
smiled broadly, and scratched her head.
"Wow, still, Seong-hwan-ssi followed along so well that we finished quickly."
"It took about a whole week... and that's fast...?"
"Hahaha, a single photobook normally takes a month to make."
After the first day, I was called in whenever I had free time after school to take photos.
I'd taken the idea of having my photos taken far too lightly.
Common sense dictated that a photobook meant shooting across multiple backgrounds and outfits,
compiling them, publishing them, and selling them.
It was not something that could be finished in a single day.
"Since we still have a little time left anyway, how about that?"
"What do you mean, 'that'?"
"You know... a swimsuit concept, or something with underwear..."
Leaning close and starting to whisper quietly,
the director asked if I'd be willing to try this and that.
From what I heard, it seemed like male celebrities also included service shots
taken in swimsuits or in bathhouse-type settings in their photobooks.
"Mm... it's not that I'm strongly against it."
"Th...then...?!"
"If Director-nim thinks you can handle A-ra Noona, that is..."
"Keuk..."
No matter how famous a director she was,
there was no beating A-ra.
Physically, and in terms of rank, too.
"It can't be helped. Seong-hwan-ssi is a married man, so we'll have to pray the readers understand."
"They'll understand. They've done so up until now."
Being twenty years old meant I was incredibly young in both the CueTube scene and in entertainment,
but I was getting a lot of leeway in various ways thanks solely to the fact that I was a married man.
Part of that was surely because I was A-ra's husband, but should I say that the level
of what people demanded from me was unexpectedly a bit lower?
The fact that I looked kind of frail probably factored in as well.
"Anyway, you've truly worked hard up until today."
"Thank you for taking such pretty pictures."
"If anything, I was the one honored to photograph Seong-hwan-ssi."
"If you say things like that, I'll get beaten up by the mob..."
"Hahaha!"
I wasn't sure what was so funny, but I meant it sincerely.
This director was even more famous and popular than I had thought.
Though it was a somewhat older film, she was the director of a movie that had surpassed ten million viewers.
"When the photobook is finished, I'll send a copy to your home."
"Could I perhaps get two? A-ra Noona said she wants to preserve hers in a vacuum-sealed state."
"Naturally, A-ra-ssi's copy will be sent separately."
"That's a given, I see..."
It made me a bit worried for some reason,
but since she was a person famous for taking good care of people,
I simply gave a strained smile and stepped outside.
'Still, I finished it!'
It had been a hassle for a whole week, but now that it was over, I felt refreshed and good.
Well, I might end up anxiously biting my nails on the day it goes on sale, but still.
***
The day of Yoo Seong-hwan's photobook release.
The photobook, which they'd decided to sell in Seoul and Busan in the Republic of Korea,
had already started spreading by word of mouth here and there even before its launch,
and began generating incidents both large and small one by one.
The small problem was the flood of inquiry calls crashing into the agency,
and the big problem was the people who had pitched tents in front of the sales locations a full week before release and were waiting there.
Still, that issue was simple to resolve.
They played a decisive trump card: anyone lining up before the day itself would not be sold a copy.
So the people who had been waiting in line since before the release had no choice but to leave,
and it seemed like things were being resolved to some extent, but...
Because of that, on the actual day, the area in front of the sales locations became even more chaotic.
"Those who just arrived, please go to the very back and line up!"
Just how chaotic was it? It was chaotic enough
that even agency employees had to pitch in to help.
Among them, Yoo Seong-hwan's friend Kang Jeong-hwan had also been out since the crack of dawn
organizing the people standing in line.
"Hoo..."
"Why the sudden sigh?"
A young-looking employee in the slightly cold weather let out a sigh.
She was wearing fur gloves, and for some reason, she seemed like the type of woman who'd be popular with men.
"I wanted a copy of Seong-hwan-ssi's photobook too..."
"They probably set aside copies for us..."
"I hope so."
Even the coworkers desperately wanted to stand in that long line.
Because the photobook being sold this time wasn't being released online at all,
and the CEO had personally posted on social media
saying that unauthorized uploads would face severe legal consequences.
"A photobook that only buyers can see... that just makes you want to buy it however you can."
"Director Kim Chae-won is really a mean person."
"What exactly is mean about me?"
"C-CEO...!"
The woman who had appeared behind them was the CEO — the main culprit behind this photobook release
and the very person responsible for turning this place into chaos.
It hadn't been backbiting exactly, but the word used hadn't been a good one,
and the new employee who had frozen up in an instant went rigid from face to body in a single moment.
"It's a joke, a joke. And of course I've prepared copies for our employees, so don't worry."
"Th... thank you, CEO!"
"Thank you so much!"
After casually receiving the two's thanks,
the CEO pulled her phone out of her pocket.
In truth, the reason she had appeared at the sales location was none other than
to carry out a surprise event.
Having recently developed a taste for merchandise sales,
she had been indulging in a personal hobby by distributing or selling limited goods in small quantities
at events held by the agency.
So, when printing this batch of photobooks, for every hundred copies,
she had printed a rare three-page appendix of photos that weren't in the regular photobooks.
The reason she hadn't informed the employees... no, even the photobook's main subject Yoo Seong-hwan
was so she could blow it up into a hot topic on the day of the sale.
The moment the CEO posted that fact to social media,
the phones of everyone waiting in line all rang at the same time.
"Rare... appendix...?"
"An appendix that includes Seong-hwan's school uniform shots...?"
"One in every hundred...? Isn't that kind of insane?"
"But I fucking want one so bad."
"Please... dear God, Buddha..."
At the sight of them collectively beginning to pray to the gods that they might receive a rare appendix copy,
the boyfriends who had been dragged along all recoiled in fright as a group.
Since the photobooks were only being sold one per person,
they were poor souls who had been mobilized.
"If you're gonna do this, at least reissue the limited cards as a limited distribution or something!"
"That's not happening! Do you know how important value preservation is."
They didn't know it, but while it wasn't a reissue, it had been arranged for a pack containing limited cards
to be handed out one pack per volume,
so this time it was fair to call it an incredibly generous package compared to last time.
And then, just as the hour hand began to point to nine,
the door of the sales location rolled open and the photobook sales began.
***
"Huhu..."
I'd acquired a phone with tight security and loaded all of A-ra's photos onto it.
Of course, the five shots taken under the no-limits condition were in there too.
"Seong-hwan-a, what are you doing?"
"I was looking at pictures of you, Noona."
"As long as you're not taking them... I can show you anytime, though..."
"Why can't I take them?"
"Because it's embarrassing!"
Wasn't being looked at embarrassing?
Every now and then, A-ra had a lot of slightly odd values.
"Anyway, today's the day your photobook goes on sale."
It had suddenly popped into my head.
The clock was already pointing at twelve, so sales had already started for over an hour.
"The photobook? I heard it's already sold out."
"Huh? I guess they started selling a bit earlier than expected?"
"No? I heard it sold out completely two hours after sales started."
"Ah, it's just the Seoul sales locations that sold out. I heard Busan still has some left."
"But didn't they say the stock was prepared half and half?"
"They didn't tell people that, so people all came up to Seoul on purpose.
Right now they're all heading back down to Busan in reverse. Well, they say Busan will probably be completely sold out soon too, though."
"Umm... the completely sold out part is the entire first production batch, right?"
"Yeah, didn't Noona tell you? You don't need to worry."
Hadn't they said the first production batch was five thousand copies?
Was it even possible to sell all of it in two hours?