Proof
Show Music. To.Any had finished their music show stage and come back to the waiting room.
Nova flopped onto the waiting-room sofa and muttered, “Hah... I’m wiped out.”
“Unnie! If you sprawl out like that, where is everyone else supposed to sit?”
“Maknae, unnie is tired.”
“I’m tired too, so move your leg.”
Nova lowered her right leg.
After Seol Chae-i pulled the other one down from the sofa as well, she collapsed onto the seat beside Nova.
Glancing sideways at Nova’s deflated face, Seol Chae-i grumbled, “That’s why I told you not to get your hopes up.”
“...No, how could I not hope? If we were nominated for first place, of course I’d expect us to win!”
Rei cried out while sneaking a hand toward the chocolate pastry on the waiting-room table.
“Re, Rei thinks so too!”
“Right!? Rei thinks so too, doesn’t she?”
“Yes! Nova unnie!”
Ga-eul slapped Rei’s hand away as she tried to steal the snack and answered, “The digital score was close, but we got crushed in album sales and fan votes.”
“Sigh, our Together fans probably voted like crazy too... Guess you really can’t beat the firepower of a first-tier idol group.”
“Other fandoms must’ve been voting hard too. Nothing we can do about it.”
“Aaaah! This is so annoying! I even bragged to my mom that we’d win first on a music show today!”
“G-Ga-eul unnie! I want the chocolate pastry!”
“No. You need to manage your diet.”
“Rei doesn’t need to manage her diet to stay skinny!”
Even after Rei’s frantic protest, Ga-eul confiscated the chocolate pastry in the end.
Rei collapsed as if she had lost the world.
At that moment, a heavy silence settled over the room.
“...........”
Nova, still lying across the sofa, twisted her head around in misery. Seol Chae-i idly poked at her phone for no reason. Rei, robbed of her pastry, looked vacant.
Watching them, Ga-eul’s face darkened.
The usual silence, which would have felt harmless, somehow seemed especially uncomfortable today, and just then the waiting-room door swung open with a bang as Lee Ye-ji from Team Five rushed in.
“Girls! Did the stage go well!?”
Nova sprang up and hugged Ye-ji, whining, “Unnieeeee...”
“Huh? Nova, why do you look like that?”
“We came in thirdhhhh...”
“What!? Third!?”
“Y-yeah... Our digital score was close, but we came dead last in album sales and fan votes. Dead last.”
Ye-ji looked around the room in bewilderment.
She could see the To.Any members looked more drained than usual.
Rei, especially, looked as if the sky had collapsed on her.
Holding her breath, Ye-ji muttered to herself, So that’s why the waiting-room atmosphere was so dark.
Still, from a rookie idol’s point of view, the value of a first-place music show trophy was impossible to put into words.
It’s proof that they’ve become a trending idol group.
There was no way To.Any felt good about missing that trophy by a hair.
Ye-ji chewed on her lip, thinking hard.
How could she comfort a discouraged To.Any?
This was the kind of moment when a manager was supposed to lift their spirits.
But strangely enough, what came to mind was not words of comfort, but a conversation she had overheard at the coffee vending machine a little while ago.
TAN is planning a competition show in the variety department, right?
Ga-eul, To.Any’s leader, had been mentioned as one of the candidates for that show.
If... Ga-eul appeared on that competition program and did well, then what?
Wouldn’t it draw attention and blow up her popularity?
Ga-eul already had the nickname of a genius lyricist and composer thanks to Youth Travel.
If she went on a singer-songwriter competition show and made a strong showing, not only Ga-eul herself but the entire group could be pushed into a much bigger spotlight.
The problem was that the information had been overheard so suddenly that she still didn’t have enough of it.
That was when Ye-ji, already deep in thought, finally sensed someone approach.
Ga-eul, who had come over without her noticing, poked her head in close.
“Unnie?”
“M-Mommy!”
“...”
Ga-eul tilted her head.
“Is something wrong? Your face looks really serious.”
“H-Huh...? Did I look that gloomy?”
“Yes. Do you have something on your mind?”
On her mind?
Of course she did.
But could she tell Ga-eul about it?
After stealing a quick glance at Ga-eul, Ye-ji avoided the question with a small smile.
“No... I was just thinking about something!”
“Oh, really? But unnie.”
“Hmm?”
“Did Sil-jjang-nim not come today?”
“Sil-jjang-nim? Hmm... He didn’t come today, did he?”
“He must be really busy lately?”
“What else would it be? His actors, Lee Ha-eun and Seo Tae-jun, just started their project, right?”
Ga-eul murmured in a low voice, “...He must be really busy, Manager Kwon.”
Ye-ji tipped her head. “Why? Do you miss him a lot?”
Instead of answering, Ga-eul only smiled faintly.
Ye-ji was quietly watching her when it hit her all at once.
Huh?
Wait a second.
Come to think of it, why was she the only one worrying about this?
To.Any had another manager besides rookie road manager Lee Ye-ji, didn’t they?
I can just talk to Manager Kwon!
Baekhak Management Team Five’s Manager Kwon Chan.
With his reputation as a star maker among the formidable managers in Baekhak Management, he would be able to solve this problem.
***
The day after deciding to invest in Multicultural, I set up a meeting with Director Kim Jun-su right away.
When I met him at a cafe near Hapjeong Station, I got straight to the point.
“Director Kim.”
“Yes?”
“How would you feel about going ahead with the investment I mentioned last time?”
“!”
Director Kim Jun-su’s eyes widened.
I immediately explained the background, direction, and purpose of this investment decision.
The current situation with Multicultural.
The knife-edge deadline for the Busan International Film Festival.
I laid out, in plain terms, the practical reality that it would probably be impossible to find an investor under those conditions.
When I finished explaining, Director Kim downed his coffee as if his throat were parched and muttered, “S-So that was the situation.”
“Yes. So if you’re comfortable with it, I’d like to invest.”
“I-I’d be grateful, but if you do that, it feels like you’d be taking on far too much risk...”
I nodded.
On the surface, he was right: I would be shouldering all the risk.
Investing in a short film isn’t the kind of thing where you can expect a clean return.
But that was only true if the film failed to win anything at the Busan International Film Festival.
If it won even a small prize, the festival would connect it to distributors, and the production could earn ticket revenue through independent theaters and arthouse cinemas.
At a festival like Busan, you can also sell rights to various screenings and educational institutions, not just rely on ticket sales.
Once those smaller revenue streams were added up, it could become a surprisingly decent investment.
And if word of mouth caught on, it might even clear the break-even point and make a fair amount of money.
But all of that, in the end, assumes the film wins something at Busan.
Fortunately, that had nothing to do with me.
I was the one who had cast an actress who would win the New Actor Award at the Busan International Film Festival.
Suppressing a laugh to myself, I kept the conversation going.
“Of course, if I invest, I’m taking on a big risk. But Director Kim.”
“Y-Yes?”
“Realistically, if you turn down my investment here, the film may not even get made.”
“!”
“There are only two months left before the submission deadline for Busan. With just enough time to shoot and edit, do you really have time to find another investor?”
Director Kim’s eyes widened.
“That...”
“Sure, if you keep trying, you might find one. But will a film made under that kind of time pressure really be any good?”
“...”
“I want a quality Multicultural, not one thrown together in a rush. And I have no intention of putting my actress in a film made that way.”
Director Kim’s open mouth slowly closed.
His eyes wavered between conscience and desire.
Watching that conflict, I let out a snort of laughter.
Should I call that honest, or stupid...?
To be frank, if it had been an established director, they would have accepted my offer without a second thought.
Because for a director, the work comes first.
I didn’t think those kinds of directors were wrong, even if it went against conventional morality.
A proper director was supposed to put the work above everything else.
And I wanted Director Kim Jun-su to be that kind of director for Multicultural.
After finishing my thought, I spoke slowly.
“The established directors I know are all greedy when it comes to the work itself.”
“...?”
“If you were an established director, you would have accepted my offer without even hesitating.”
“!”
“And I don’t find that attitude offensive at all. If you’re a director, the work should come before anything else.”
I leaned forward.
“I want you, Director Kim Jun-su, to be that kind of greedy person who thinks only about the work.”
Director Kim’s brows drew together.
For a moment he just stared at me, then squeezed his eyes shut and answered, “Understood! I’ll do as you say, Manager Kwon!”
“!”
“Honestly, I’m feeling pressure, and I’m sorry to you, Manager Kwon... but...”
His voice trailed off as he opened his eyes.
A tiny flame flickered in them.
A flame of greed.
“For now... yes. Just like you said, Manager Kwon, I want to be greedy too. I want to focus only on filming Multicultural.”
The corners of my mouth lifted.
“Then let’s be greedy together.”
With Director Kim’s answer, the investment contract was signed.
Maybe because the most urgent investment problem had been solved, his passion was burning even hotter than before.
“As soon as we secure the equipment and actors, I’m thinking of heading down to Busan and starting filming right away in about two weeks.”
“The equipment is one thing, but isn’t the casting timeline a bit tight, Director Kim?”
“Ah, you don’t need to worry about that! I’m planning to ask my university juniors, and some theater actors I’m already on good terms with.”
I nodded slowly.
Once he catches fire, he’s decisive all right, Director Kim.
Feeling my own motivation rise at the sight of his changed demeanor, I moved on with the rest of the meeting.
We agreed that Director Kim would handle the detailed schedule himself, while I would take responsibility for the broader framework, and with that, the third meeting wrapped up.
“Then I look forward to working with you. Director Kim.”
“Yes, yes! But, Manager Kwon...?”
“Yes?”
“Should I call you investor now?”
“...Let’s just stick with Manager Kwon.”
With that, the meeting came to an end, and I became the official investor in Multicultural.
Standing at a smoking area nearby, I lit a cigarette and stared blankly at the investment contract.
“This is... oddly emotional.”
Who would have thought I’d end up using my lottery account, which I’d kept around as nothing more than a sturdy insurance policy, like this?
Life was something you really could never figure out.
...But this.
Brushing ash off my cigarette, I muttered without thinking, “If the Multicultural investment works out, wouldn’t it be worth continuing?”
My gaze dropped at the new possibility.
***
I scratched my chin and thought it over for a moment.
If I kept investing in films with money from the lottery, would the odds of making money be higher, or the odds of losing it?
Obviously, the odds of losing would be higher.
In times like these, film investing was practically the same as scratching a lotto ticket.
But what if I had future information like I do with Multicultural?
If I only picked films I knew were going to succeed and invested in them...
Wasn’t that an investment that couldn’t fail?
Before I knew it, I muttered under my breath, “That’s not exactly nonsense.”
Of course, opportunities like Multicultural wouldn’t come around often.
But there was no law saying they couldn’t come again.
I had future texts, after all!
If those future messages send me something like this again, film investing might actually be worth doing consistently.
The new possibility Multicultural had opened brushed coldly across my skin.
Trembling excitement.
Feeling my heart begin to race, I murmured, “...Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
It was still only a possibility.
So for now, I’d keep it in mind and sketch out the rough outlines only.
Just then, my smartphone rang.
I ground out the cigarette hanging from my mouth and answered the call.
“Manager Kwon!”
“Ye-ji?”
“Yes! I have something important to tell you. Can you talk right now?”
I tilted my head. “What is it? Wait, don’t tell me...!”
My voice shot up higher than even I expected.
“Did we take first place on today’s music show!?”
-No? We got third.
...The excitement that had been burning in my chest died faster than I could have imagined.
At the same time, a groan escaped me.
I figured as much, but third place, huh.
Well.
They had taken first place on the digital chart, but that only covered digital performance.
For a music-show stage, album sales also carried a huge share of the weight, and To.Any’s first-week sales were 50,000 copies.
Compared with the average first-week album sales of rookie girl groups this year, which hovered around 30,000, it was a visible achievement, but compared with the top-tier girl groups, it was almost laughably small.
In idol culture, the so-called first-tier groups average around 400,000 copies in first-week sales.
Against monsters like that, To.Any’s fandom was still too weak to seize a music show trophy.
So the result had been expected... but it still stung a little.
If only they’d taken the music show trophy too.
They could have been the best group to debut this year.
As I clicked my tongue over the disappointment, Ye-ji called to me urgently, her voice heated.
-Ah, that’s not actually why I called, Manager Kwon!
“Yes?”
-I heard something interesting today.
“What kind of thing?”
-Apparently TAN is planning a competition variety show? Something in that singer-songwriter lane, anyway!
“!”
-And according to the PD over there, Ga-eul is a casting target. Wouldn’t it be worth pushing this from our side?
My eyes flew wide open.
“A-competition variety show, Ye-ji?”
-Yes, yes!
“...How did you find that out?”
-Ah, I went to buy coffee and overheard it without meaning to, hehe.
“...”
-Uh...? Is this, like, something I wasn’t supposed to hear, Manager Kwon?
My wandering mind slowly returned to me.
Something I wasn’t supposed to hear?
Not at all.
This was a chance.
I let out an involuntary laugh.
No way, Ye-ji. You brought me the source like this?
It was just like that SBC PD Choi Ho-cheol incident before. Ye-ji really had a habit of quietly pulling off one big thing at the most important moments.
Forcing down my rising excitement, I asked, “What was their reaction?”
-Hmm... I couldn’t check that part. I was so flustered after overhearing it by accident.
Ye-ji’s answer set my mind spinning.
So all we know is that a singer-songwriter competition show is in the planning stage.
But honestly, this much source was enough for me right now.
My guess was that, at the earliest, they’d cast her two months from now. If I’d been careless, I might have missed it.
I’d almost forgotten.
Competition variety shows were pre-filmed first, and then once they reached the main stage, they went live.
With that in mind, it’s not strange at all that they’d be circulating casting lists around now.
If it hadn’t been for Ye-ji, I might have been left with a mistake I’d regret for a long time.
After taking a deep breath, I said sincerely, “You did really well, Ye-ji.”
-...Hehe, thank you, Manager Kwon!
“I’ll look into the rest as much as I can. But...”
I paused, then asked with a little concern, “Did you check Ga-eul’s own opinion? The thing is, with competition shows, the performer’s own will is what matters most.”
Ye-ji thought for a moment before answering.
-I haven’t asked her yet, but... wouldn’t she probably do it?
“!”
-Honestly, after we got third on the music show, the girls seemed kind of... stimulated? By it, I guess. They’re already asking for more gigs, and they say they’ll take any stage they can get...!
The girls had been fired up by this incident, then.
I nodded slowly and replied, “All right. I understand, Ye-ji.”
-Yes, Manager Kwon!
“You pulled off something huge today, and they’re probably not in the best mood, so do what you can to comfort them.”
-Yes, yes! I will!
After hanging up, I let out a long sigh.
“Something’s suddenly starting to hit all at once.”
Maybe because of that, the breathing room that had come after the Black Bride script reading evaporated in an instant.
Multicultural, with its investment confirmed and filming preparations underway. The singer-songwriter competition show with a 15 percent viewer rating that Ye-ji had heard about.
The empty space left behind by that fading calm was filled by the anticipation and tension brought on by new events and new possibilities.
As dopamine started to kick in after a long time, my heart began to pound faster.
How should I even organize this situation?
The instant I thought that, my smartphone rang again.
A pleased snort escaped my lips.
“Look at that.”
The last thread still hanging loose had finally come undone.
The thread that mattered more to me than anything else right now.