The Manager Who Chose a Ten-Million-Ticket Film
When Director Park’s declaration finally burst from his mouth, after nearly a year of waiting, the meat restaurant rocked with noise.
“It really hit ten million!?”
“...My God. An occult film hit ten million?”
“This is insane, seriously!”
“Congratulations, Director Park Jun-seo!”
“Waaaaaah, ten million!”
The cheers of the staff rang in my ears, spinning around and around.
Everyone in the room was grabbing each other and shouting.
In the middle of all that chaos, I sank weakly into my seat.
We did it...
Ten million. Right, we’d finally made a ten-million-ticket film.
Seven years into this industry.
I’d reached the highest point of my career.
A shiver I couldn’t put into words ran through my whole body.
It was something I’d already expected, wasn’t it?
So why was everyone making such a fuss?
At this rate, wasn’t it obvious this would hit ten million?
I tried to calm myself down with reason, but that wasn’t going to work.
I couldn’t stop the corners of my mouth from twitching.
A pleased laugh spilled out of me.
Meanwhile, Manager Choi Cheol and Jeon Hyeong-u wrapped Seo Tae-jun up and lifted him into the air.
“Waaaaaah-!”
“Tae-jun, congratulations!”
Seo Tae-jun shrieked in alarm.
“What kind of victory toss is this!? Put me down right now!? Choi Cheol! Hyeong-u!”
He flailed around, but Choi Cheol and Manager Jeon Hyeong-u were already determined to keep him up there.
I laughed again and turned my head.
“Hahaha...”
“Come on, Director! Why are you crying on such a good day?”
“Tears off! Come on, everyone, drink up!”
Director Park Jun-seo was pouring out tears, and the staff were teasing him mercilessly.
Well. He really had suffered a lot too.
In a way, this film had only been possible because of the excellent script he’d written.
I watched him, now a ten-million director after a decade in the business, with a satisfied feeling, then turned my head again.
“Kheuk, this is why I do this job!”
“This is how you get paid back for everything you went through!”
“...We should be able to take a few months off after this, right?”
“Hey, hey! Why are you thinking about that already? Forget it and drink! Just drink!”
“...Wow, but it really is amazing. No matter how well a movie does, how does an occult film hit ten million?”
“That’s why we just wrote history! A new chapter in Korean cinema!”
The staff chatted among themselves.
The actors still looked dazed by the flood of congratulations.
Amid that pleasant scene, I naturally started looking for one person.
We’d hit ten million.
Then what kind of expression was the star of that ten-million film wearing?
I slowly turned my head and looked across the table.
And at that moment, my expression turned blank.
“...”
The star who had risen to the top again.
The top actress who had once more proved herself after all the doubt.
And yet the lead of a ten-million film wasn’t smiling, or rejoicing, or doing anything of the sort.
Instead, she only blinked slowly with a drained look on her face.
Watching her from the corner of my eye, I held my breath.
Is something wrong?
We’d achieved a ten-million film, so why did the person at the center of it look so dark?
I couldn’t guess the reason.
So, without meaning to, I kept staring at her.
And only then did I belatedly catch the pressure, exhaustion, and relief hidden behind that expressionless face.
My eyes widened a little.
“...”
Top actress Lee Ha-eun.
She wasn’t feeling unpleasant right now.
She was...
...exhausted.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Looking at Lee Ha-eun, I thought about it.
When we stepped into a film like Black Bride, who had felt the greatest pressure?
The director of this film, Director Park Jun-seo?
Seo Tae-jun, who was trying a new image transformation?
Or me, the idiot who had made a ten-million declaration in front of the great Baek Representative?
No.
The person who’d felt the greatest pressure when this film started was Lee Ha-eun.
How many articles had poured out once the news that Lee Ha-eun had been cast in Black Bride became official?
I hadn’t counted exactly, but I remembered more than a hundred articles dropping just that week.
And the comments on those articles?
At least ten times that many, maybe a hundred times.
There was no way all those comments could have been kind.
Doubt.
Criticism and condemnation.
Even malicious comments.
The public’s gaze toward Lee Ha-eun, who had chosen to challenge the unfamiliar genre of occult rather than a sure-fire hit, was ruthless.
Would she really succeed again?
Could she deliver the kind of box-office performance worthy of the title “top actress”?
Or was she just suffering from actor’s disease and making an arrogant gamble?
Celebrity popularity is proportional to the number of fans and antis.
For someone with a massive fandom like Lee Ha-eun, the anti-fan base had no choice but to be huge as well.
Lee Ha-eun would have had to endure the gaze of those antis even before the film was released.
I couldn’t even guess how heavy that burden and responsibility must have been.
And I would never know the amount of work she put in to carry that burden and make this film succeed.
But one thing I did know.
Now that she had finally achieved a ten-million film and set down all that responsibility and weight, she didn’t look relieved at all. She looked like she might collapse from exhaustion at any moment.
My mouth moved before I even thought about it.
“Lee Ha-eun.”
At my call, the actress looked at me.
That drained gaze made me hold back any half-baked comfort.
That arrogant woman would never want pity right now, not even for a second.
“You worked hard.”
At that, Lee Ha-eun’s eyes widened.
Looking at her, I spoke with complete sincerity.
“You really worked hard. Congratulations.”
Lee Ha-eun’s expression turned strange.
She stared at me for a moment, then slowly closed and opened her eyes again.
I met her gaze without looking away, and she let out a small laugh.
“...People really do change when they’re about to die.”
Lee Ha-eun propped her chin on her hand and looked at me.
“What, am I going to die now, Kwon Chan?”
At that, I lifted a shoulder.
“Are you touched?”
“Yeah. I’m touched.”
“...Aren’t you agreeing a little too easily?”
“You said everything you wanted to say. Why are you getting embarrassed?”
Lee Ha-eun muttered in a slightly lazy voice.
“I was tired.”
At those words, watching her melt into a heap, I smiled with satisfaction.
“You acted like you weren’t tired on the outside, but I guess you were worried after all?”
“Whenever I start a project, I’m always worried.”
“At your level, shouldn’t you be past worrying about that?”
Lee Ha-eun shook her head slightly.
“If a project fails, I’m not the only one who goes down with it.”
With that, she slowly lifted her head and looked around.
My gaze followed hers.
Was she about to make a toast or something?
Director Park Jun-seo was raising his glass and shouting something.
All around him were the staff and actors gathered together.
Lee Ha-eun looked at the hundred-odd people and muttered,
“If I were the only one failing, I wouldn’t even worry. But if one project goes wrong, how many people go down with it? I don’t think I’ve got the confidence to carry that kind of responsibility.”
That was unexpected.
I hadn’t realized this proud woman had such a delicate side.
Come to think of it, she really was more fragile than she looked.
Looking at Lee Ha-eun with fresh eyes, I asked,
“So because you didn’t have the confidence to shoulder that responsibility, you made sure the project succeeded no matter what?”
“Something like that. And besides, this project...”
Lee Ha-eun trailed off, then mumbled,
“You’re the one who chose it, remember?”
“Huh?”
“You picked the project. So if it failed, would that have been okay?”
My eyes widened as I looked at her.
And while I was still staring, Lee Ha-eun continued in a languid tone.
“Kwon Chan, you chose this project. It couldn’t fail, could it?”
“...”
“So I worked even harder. If this project had failed...”
That one sentence made my mind run out the door.
“You couldn’t leave me, after all.”
Lee Ha-eun laughed playfully.
But I couldn’t take the joke and throw it back.
From my toes to the top of my head.
I could feel heat flooding up all at once, and I clapped a hand over my mouth.
“..........”
Come to think of it, there hadn’t been any noise around Lee Ha-eun on this shoot in particular.
Back during Queen of Joseon, filming had been interrupted more than once because of Lee Ha-eun’s hysterics, but during Black Bride the shoot had gone smoothly to the point of being almost unnaturally seamless.
At the time I’d brushed it off without a second thought, but now that I looked back, it really was strange.
And the reason for that was...
Because she’d done it for me?
It was hard to believe.
And yet, when I thought about it, it wasn’t that unbelievable.
From the start, Lee Ha-eun had...
chosen Black Bride because of me alone.
Even though there were better options, she had taken on the lead role in this film under that pressure because of me.
Wasn’t it only natural for her to worry about the film’s success for my sake?
Confronted with that truth all of a sudden, I ended up turning my head away.
Lee Ha-eun, watching me, blushed faintly and muttered,
“...What. That reaction is way too serious.”
“...”
“Say something. You’re making me awkward...”
Even after her complaint, I still couldn’t open my mouth.
And between us, silence settled naturally.
“...”
Ugh...
This is embarrassing.
The atmosphere was so ticklish that heat kept surging through me.
But I couldn’t shake this feeling that was teasing at my heart.
This is killing me.
Lee Ha-eun was blushing as if she regretted the words she’d just said, and that only made the heat rise even more.
I wondered if water might cool the fire running up to my throat, but no.
My heart had already started thudding.
Thump-thump.
Something...
Right now, it felt like I could say things I’d never be able to say with a clear head.
I was just parting my lips when—
“Team Leader Kwon, Lee Ha-eun.”
“?”
Seo Tae-jun’s voice suddenly cut in, and I jerked my head around.
Seo Tae-jun looked a little drunk as he let out a deep sigh.
I blinked in confusion and called his name.
“What is it, Tae-jun?”
“...I, uh, caused a problem.”
“What? What kind of problem all of a sudden?”
Seo Tae-jun started glancing at Lee Ha-eun.
“Well...”
“Well what?”
“I’m supposed to bungee jump.”
I tilted my head.
“What’s the big deal about that? You’re drunk right now, aren’t you?”
“No, I’m not drunk. I’m not.”
“Then why the bungee jump?”
Seo Tae-jun squeezed his eyes shut and said,
“I made it my ten-million pledge.”
“So?”
“I said I’d do the bungee jump with Lee Ha-eun.”
“?”
“...What do we do now? I saw the interview articles and the shorts clips and they’re already at one million views. Do we really have to jump?”
“.........”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The next day,
on top of the bungee-jump platform at Nami Island in Gyeonggi Province, Lee Ha-eun screamed in horror.
“I can’t do it! I won’t do it! I hate this!”
At her words, Seo Tae-jun said in a panic,
“...Are you afraid of heights?”
“Like that’s the problem here!”
Lee Ha-eun pointed at the railing below with trembling fingers.
“You want me to jump from here? Have you lost your mind!?”
I quietly turned my head and looked down past the railing.
...Oh.
Wasn’t the height people said was most terrifying around ten meters?
I could tell in this moment that that was a lie.
It just gets scarier the higher it is...
Can we really jump this?
I turned and looked at Lee Ha-eun and Seo Tae-jun.
The great Seo Tae-jun was being scolded like a mouse in front of a cat by Lee Ha-eun.
...At that rate, there was no way the two of them could jump together.
Just then, the bungee instructor adjusted his beret and said,
“Set your posture. Begin.”
Lee Ha-eun fled instantly.
But Seo Tae-jun couldn’t escape and got caught by the instructor’s hand.
“Looking at the two of you, there’s no way you can jump together. We’ll start with Seo Tae-jun, who’s already ready.”
“W-wait a second!”
“Set your posture. One, two, three... dive!”
The bungee instructor mercilessly shoved Seo Tae-jun off.
“Aaaaaaaagh!”
With a rough scream, Seo Tae-jun disappeared into the distance, becoming a tiny dot.
The filming staff watching the scene went pale.
“Holy shit...”
“Tae-jun, he’s not dead, right?”
“He’s dangling down there, so no, he’s not dead.”
“Hey, hey, did you get that well? This is a one-million-view short for sure, so you’ve got to film it properly!”
Listening to the staff whispering, I turned my head.
Lee Ha-eun was staring down the instructor, eyes wide and furious.
“I am absolutely not jumping. Got it!?”
“...”
At her words, the instructor slowly lifted the corners of his mouth.
“Lee Ha-eun’s scream will be beautiful.”
“?”
“Beautiful women scream beautifully, too. Set your posture.”
At the instructor’s chilling line, Lee Ha-eun panicked and hurriedly hid behind my back.
As her hands trembled against me, I whispered softly,
“You really can’t do it?”
Lee Ha-eun shook her head up and down.
“I can’t! I’m not jumping!”
Hmm...
So this woman really had this side to her too.
I lifted the corners of my mouth and said,
“Then want to jump with me?”
Lee Ha-eun’s eyes went round.
“What?”
“If you jump with me, it’ll feel less scary. That’s why I told Tae-jun to jump with you, but as you can see, he’s gone ahead and left us.”
“...”
“If you’re really that scared, you can back out. But we came all the way here and not jumping is kind of ridiculous, isn’t it?”
At my words, Lee Ha-eun’s gaze wavered back and forth with conflict.
Taking advantage of that opening, I quickly signaled the instructor.
The instructor, who had moved up without me noticing, fitted the safety gear onto my body.
Once I was ready, I stood on the platform and gestured to Lee Ha-eun.
“All right, let’s go.”
Lee Ha-eun’s lips trembled as she said,
“Kwon Chan... you’re dangerous. You’re going to die like this...”
“Could you not say such ominous things? I’ve still got a lot to do.”
“You’re crazy... seriously, you’re insane.”
“Calm down and come here.”
Though she really did seem to hate it, Lee Ha-eun shuddered and still came to me obediently.
I carefully took hold of her.
Her shoulders were thinner than I’d expected, and my throat bobbed lightly.
She’s shaking more than I thought. This.
But I couldn’t tell whether this trembling came from my closeness to Lee Ha-eun or from the fifty-five-meter bungee platform on Nami Island.
Still, one thing was clear.
“We descend on three!”
Ah...
More thrilling than I expected.
I hadn’t even jumped yet, and just standing on the bungee platform made the stress I’d built up for so long start to disappear.
In that instant, I thought,
“Countdown beginning.”
Right.
To wrap up a year’s journey, we needed at least this much of an event.
As I exhaled deeply with that thought, Lee Ha-eun suddenly hugged me.
I jerked in surprise and dipped my head down, and at that exact moment the instructor shouted,
“One... three! Let’s go, dive!”
No, this crazy instructor!
What happened to two!?
Pushed by the instructor’s hands, I fell off the bungee platform with Lee Ha-eun.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
Lee Ha-eun’s scream made my ears ring.
The sky and the ground flipped over, and everything looked upside down.
And then I saw Lee Ha-eun clinging to me, crying in my arms.
Without meaning to, I burst out laughing.
Lee Ha-eun squeezed her eyes shut and shouted,
“You’re insaneeee! Why are you laughing all of a sudden!?”
I shouted back while hanging upside down.
“You worked hard!”
Lee Ha-eun, who had been pressed tight against my chest, slowly opened her eyes.
I gently brushed her cheeks with my hands and said,
“You really, really worked hard, Lee Ha-eun!”
At my words, Lee Ha-eun muttered with an expression of utter disbelief,
“Don’t say such romantic things while we’re hanging upside down...”
With the grumbling of a ten-million actor, the ten-million pledge was finally carried out safely.
And then.
After finishing my commute preparations, I headed to Baekhak headquarters.
With a briefcase in one hand and an iced Americano in the other, I passed through the lobby and stepped into the management office.
“Oh, Team Leader Kwon’s here?”
“Good morning, Team Leader Kwon!”
After receiving greetings from my team members and setting down my briefcase, I immediately checked today’s schedule.
Then I called over Jeon Hyeong-u, Lee Ha-eun’s manager, who was sitting beside me.
“Hyeong-u.”
“Yes, Team Leader.”
“The materials I asked for yesterday are ready, right?”
Manager Jeon Hyeong-u nodded without hesitation.
“Yes, they’re all ready, Team Leader.”
“We’ve got a team-leader meeting this morning, so organize them and send them over right away.”
“Yes! Understood!”
With a sandwich I’d bought to tide me over for breakfast still in my mouth, I calmly organized the materials I’d be presenting at today’s team-leader meeting one more time.
Once that preparation was done, Manager Jeon Hyeong-u happened to send me the Black Bride-related materials.
After adding those in and finishing the arrangement, I got up from my seat.
“I’m heading to the meeting.”
“Have a good meeting, Team Leader!”
Seeing off the Team 6 managers, I headed for the director’s office with the same light steps I’d used on the way in.
“Director, it’s Team Leader Kwon.”
“Ah, come in, Team Leader Kwon.”
At Director Park Yu-hyeon’s permission, I opened the door carefully and stepped into the director’s office.
I could already feel the eyes of the team leaders who had arrived before me.
After greeting Director Park first, I sat next to Team Leader Ma Seok-du and whispered,
“Why is everyone here so early?”
Team Leader Ma shot me a glance and scolded me.
“Then why is the main character so late?”
Main character?
I was the main character?
...At Team Leader Ma’s words, I let out a quiet snort of laughter.
Right.
Today, this was my stage.
Then Director Park Yu-hyeon looked over the six team leaders and said,
“All right, it looks like all the team leaders are here, so shall we start the meeting?”
At that, the eyes of the other five team leaders turned toward me.
Feeling those gazes, I prepared to stand.
“Then first, Team Leader of Team 6.”
At Director Park Yu-hyeon’s call, I stood up as if I’d been waiting for it.
With his legs crossed, Director Park Yu-hyeon said to me,
“Start with Team 6’s first-quarter performance presentation.”
At that, I spread the materials I’d prepared on the table and lifted my head.
Five team leaders.
And Director Park Yu-hyeon.
I could feel the different gazes of the six people looking at me.
In some eyes there was envy and jealousy, and in others expectation and interest.
That variety of emotions set dopamine firing in my head.
Black Bride had achieved ten million, and applause had poured over Director Park Jun-seo and the cast.
And yet I, the one who had chosen the film, hadn’t received much attention or notice at all.
Sometimes, very occasionally, that made me feel a little disappointed.
It was a strange thing to say out loud, but how much influence had I really had over Black Bride's success?
But there was no helping it.
I was the manager, and in a film called Black Bride, I had been strictly a supporting player.
But today was different.
At least in this room, the star of a ten-million film was me.
With a slight curl at the corner of my mouth, I spoke.
“I’m Team Leader of Team 6.”
With that light introduction, I began today’s first meeting.
“First, I’ll brief you on Black Bride, which was Team 6’s most important project.”
The manager who chose a ten-million film.
The title carried through my voice as I spoke, filling it with confidence.