A Chance Reunion and a Different Kind of Pressure
Yeji.
In TAN’s entertainment division meeting room, Producer Jo started the briefing with a thick file folder in his hands.
“Kwon Chan, 28 years old, first-year chief manager at Baekhak Entertainment, notable for managing top actress Lee Ha-eun’s road schedule, and also known as the ‘Star Manager’ from SBC’s Star Observation!...”
Producer Hwang Deok-gu called out to him with ice-cold eyes.
“Producer Jo.”
“Yes, Producer Hwang?”
“I told you to look into To.Any’s manager. Did I tell you to dig up his private life?”
“Huh? Isn’t that the same thing?”
Hwang Deok-gu smacked his own forehead.
Is this idiot really a graduate of Seoul National University?
How had someone this dim ever made it into Seoul National?
Maybe all his intelligence had been used up on studying, and the rest of him had gone stupid?
Letting out a long sigh, Hwang Deok-gu said, “Fine. So To.Any’s manager is a first-year?”
“Yes! Well, strictly speaking, not even that. From what I found out, he was only just promoted to chief manager this time.”
“Which team is he on? Which team in Baekhak Management?”
“Team 5.”
“Team 5? Are you sure?”
“Yes, absolutely sure!”
Hwang’s eyes widened a little.
Not Team 2 or 3, but Team 5...
Baekhak’s influence in this industry was enormous, but Team 5 was a different story.
If he were Team 1 or 2’s chief manager, I’d have to watch my step. But Team 5? That’s practically the team Baekhak has given up on, isn’t it?
Managers from Teams 1 and 2 handled artists with such overwhelming numbers and influence that even broadcasting station PDs had to mind their words around them. But Baekhak’s Team 5 was nowhere near that level.
From Hwang Deok-gu’s point of view, there was no reason to bow and scrape before a Team 5 chief manager.
If I get too high-handed, though, the booking could fall through. So I should keep him on his toes.
As a competition show, K-Singer-Songwriter needed to put the managers on the back foot from the start.
If they started meddling with the edits later, it would become a headache.
Having decided on his approach to the booking, Hwang Deok-gu gestured. “From now on I’m going to talk to Manager Kwon, so keep it quiet.”
“Yes, sir! Understood, Producer Hwang!”
Hwang Deok-gu called Baekhak Team 5’s Kwon Chan.
After a few rings, a low baritone came through the phone.
“Hello?”
Producer Hwang cleared his throat and answered. “Ah, am I speaking with Baekhak Team 5’s Chief Manager Kwon?”
“Yes, this is Chief Manager Kwon of Team 5. Who’s calling?”
“Ah! I’m sorry for not introducing myself sooner. This is Hwang Deok-gu from TAN’s entertainment division.”
A short silence followed on the other end of the line. A moment later, that same low voice reached Hwang Deok-gu’s ears again.
“Ah, yes. Producer Hwang Deok-gu. What can I do for you?”
Hwang’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Look at that.
No matter how polished a Baekhak manager was, wasn’t this rookie girl-group manager sounding a little too relaxed while speaking to a broadcasting PD?
Hwang Deok-gu’s gaze sharpened.
We’ll see how long that composure lasts.
He went straight to the point. “I’m calling because I’m producing a variety show right now, and I wanted to set up a meeting regarding To.Any’s Ga-eul.”
“Ah, you mean K-Singer-Songwriter?”
“Yes, yes, that’s right! I heard Team Leader Ma Seok-du from Baekhak was interested, and even contacted our CP directly...”
Trailing off on purpose, Hwang Deok-gu made his pitch with practiced arrogance. “From the profile, To.Any’s leader, Park Ga-eul, seems to have decent singing skills and visuals. So I was wondering if, when you have time, we could meet up once. Could you come by TAN Broadcasting Station sometime this week?”
Hwang Deok-gu really was interested in Park Ga-eul, but it had been Baekhak that expressed interest first in official terms.
They called first, asking our CP to place the program through him.
Who made the first official move mattered. Hwang Deok-gu was subtly leaning on that fact to pressure Kwon Chan.
“...”
Whether that pressure landed or not, the man on the other end fell silent.
Hwang Deok-gu folded his arms and waited with complete confidence for Kwon’s reply.
Then he heard a low chuckle through the phone.
“A meeting sounds a little early.”
“?”
“I’ll ask for the member’s opinion first and make a decision after that. I’ll contact you separately.”
Hwang Deok-gu blinked at the unexpected answer and stupidly asked, “Excuse me?”
“Ah, did you not hear what I just said, Producer?”
“No, I heard you clearly, but... you’re saying you’re going to ask the member’s opinion? Isn’t this already decided?”
“No. Nothing’s decided. But...”
Kwon Chan let the sentence hang for a moment, then replied with a light tap of his voice.
“Since you’ve made the offer, I’ll have the company review it from our end. I’ll get back to you once a decision’s been made, Producer Hwang.”
Hwang Deok-gu’s face colored with confusion.
“Y-you’re going to review it now?”
What?
Was I not the one with the upper hand, but the one being placed below?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
What happened with Producer Park from Star Observation! last time taught me a valuable lesson.
You can never trust variety show PDs.
The saying that all scandals in entertainment begin in variety shows wasn’t there for nothing. After learning that lesson, I had no choice but to think carefully before agreeing to a risky competition show.
There’s a lot to gain, but there’s a lot to lose too. No point deciding in haste.
So I deliberately turned down Producer Hwang Deok-gu’s offer once.
If he’d called me first, he must have liked Ga-eul quite a bit, but the confidence and ease in his tone suggested he thought he already had her in the bag.
He probably thinks he’s already caught the fish, huh?
Unfortunately for him, the fish wasn’t in his hands. It was in mine. I already knew through Team Leader Ma that Hwang Deok-gu had his eye on Ga-eul.
From my point of view, there was no reason to bow down to him.
For us, a competition show is a choice. For them, it’s a necessity.
I intended to use that difference and get exactly what I could out of it.
Of course, I still had to check the basics.
“Let’s see. I should probably meet up with the To.Any girls sometime next week.”
While I was at it, I could check the girls’ condition and Ga-eul’s own thoughts.
And I might as well decide the direction for Seol Chae-i’s domestic jewelry brand endorsement with Daon at the same time.
After sorting out To.Any’s schedule, I slowly turned my gaze elsewhere.
Under the shabby filming setup, a girl was shedding tears one by one.
“...”
Sadness and happiness.
Those were the emotions I could read on the girl’s face.
How could one person’s face hold such opposite feelings at once?
As a manager, I had one foot in the acting world, but even so, this performance was nothing short of astonishing.
Still, one thing I knew for certain.
Actors capable of expressing that kind of emotional depth were rare.
And if I thought about the actress’s age...
Just 18.
An actress not even twenty yet managing to perform with such rich emotional shading could only be called a matter of pure talent.
That was why I was always amazed whenever I watched Choi Go-eun act.
She was doing performances that even seasoned actors would struggle with, and she was doing them on talent alone.
Exceptional talent is simply something to admire and stand in awe of.
And Choi Go-eun’s acting talent was exceptional.
I was just an ordinary person, but I loved that kind of genius.
At that moment, Director Kim Jun-su shouted, “Cut! Good work, everyone!”
With his call, the staff erupted into exclamations.
“Wow... Go-eun’s acting really does get better the more you watch it.”
“Seriously! That final emotional scene just gave me chills.”
“My God... an 18-year-old turning in acting like that? Are they about to cause a stir at the Busan International Film Festival this year?”
“She’s young, her acting’s ridiculous, and her manager too... if he’s at chief-manager level, isn’t she basically one of those actresses Baekhak is raising seriously?”
As I smiled at the staff’s murmurs, Choi Go-eun, who had finished filming, trotted over to me.
“How was it?”
Her eyes sparkled as she asked. The girl who usually reminded me of a stray cat was now looking at me like a puppy begging for praise, and before I knew it, I felt a teasing streak rise inside me.
Choi Go-eun is the type you kind of want to tease.
Holding back a laugh, I answered on purpose in a halfhearted tone.
“Hmm. So-so?”
“...So-so?”
“Yeah. You were good, like always.”
Choi Go-eun’s brow furrowed.
“Is that praise or an insult?”
“It’s praise. You worked hard.”
“Then praise me more. I really did film my heart out.”
The laughter I’d been holding back finally slipped out.
“Should I pat your head or something?”
“Whoa, that’s a bit much...”
“I’m kidding. And don’t give me that look.”
“You’re seriously kidding, right?”
She kept pestering me, so I changed the subject.
“I’ll buy everyone a nice meat dinner for the wrap party. Oh, by the way, do you eat shellfish?”
“Shellfish? I can eat grilled shellfish.”
“Good. Then we’ll have shellfish and pork belly for the wrap party. I know a place.”
Choi Go-eun grinned, then trotted off to the day stylist. She probably wanted to take off her makeup so she could eat comfortably.
I got up and walked over to Director Kim Jun-su.
“You worked hard, Director.”
Kim Jun-su, who was looking over the camera with a slightly flushed expression, answered, “You worked hard too, Chief Manager!”
“This is the last shoot, so I was thinking we should have a wrap party. That’s all right with you, isn’t it?”
“Of course! But my juniors do eat a lot... where are we going to...”
Feeding a dozen or so staff members wasn’t exactly a wrestling team banquet, and it wasn’t much of a problem for me now.
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just go somewhere good. Everyone worked hard for a week. As an investor, I should at least buy them one meal.”
Director Kim Jun-su smiled brightly. “I’ll get the cleanup done quickly, Chief Manager!”
There wasn’t much filming equipment anyway, so the wrap-up would probably be done in ten minutes.
Instead of smoking, I sat on a nearby bench and quietly watched the set.
The staff’s bright faces after finishing the last shoot.
Director Kim Jun-su, who had no idea what to do with himself whenever he looked at Go-eun.
And over that, Choi Go-eun’s performance, still overlapping in my mind.
Before I knew it, the words left my mouth.
“Multicultural is really making me look forward to it.”
As of today, ten days of filming had come to an end. What kind of evaluation would Multicultural receive at our country’s most prestigious film festival?
At the very least, it probably won’t be panned.
Maybe it would even perform better than expected.
At least from the filming set and acting quality I’d seen, it looked far closer to a success than a failure.
I turned on my smartphone and checked the calendar.
“Exactly one month.”
In exactly one month, the results would come out. We would know how the public and the Busan International Film Festival judged Choi Go-eun and Multicultural.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Seongsu-dong, Seoul, at the “A” fashion shoot location.
There, the rookie girl group To.Any was filming a fashion pictorial.
“All right, good expression, good posture! Let’s keep going a little longer!”
Jin Ok-su, the editor-in-chief of Young Magazine, who was popular among teens and people in their twenties from Gen Z, rested his chin on his hand and muttered, “How are kids these days all this pretty? They’re just dolls. Complete dolls.”
Kim Hwa-ok, the project manager from jewelry brand Daon who had come to collaborate with Young Magazine, chimed in in agreement.
“Those are the girl group To.Any they’re shooting right now, Editor-in-Chief?”
“Oh, Hwa-ok, you must really be interested in idols. You know those girls are rookies?”
“Of course I know! Lately, every cafe I go into is playing To.Any’s songs.”
“Really? So they’re a hot idol group?”
“They debuted straight in at number one on the streaming charts. How could they not be a hot idol group? No matter how good the company is, it’s not easy for rookies to hit number one on the charts right out of debut.”
Editor-in-Chief Jin stroked his chin.
“Really? They’re better than I thought.”
“Oh? Weren’t they the girls you picked because they fit Young Magazine’s concept perfectly?”
“Not exactly~ Our assistant editor made such a fuss recommending them that I took a look, and their visuals were pretty good. Our magazine is also a gateway for rookie idols, so we booked them. Turns out it was a lucky break.”
As Jin Ok-su and Kim Hwa-ok chatted in a pleasantly warm mood, a bright, cheerful voice rang out across the set.
“Coffee delivery’s here!”
It was Yeji, To.Any’s manager. After handing coffee to the staff and the members, Yeji walked over to Jin Ok-su.
“Editor-in-Chief! Here’s the latte you ordered!”
“Oh, Manager. We didn’t need these... but thank you, I’ll enjoy it.”
“No, it was on the way anyway, so please have it comfortably. But this person here is...”
Yeji trailed off and looked quietly at Kim Hwa-ok. In turn, Kim Hwa-ok, who had noticed Yeji, also opened her mouth in surprise.
It was Kim Hwa-ok who recovered first.
“You... you!”
Yeji startled and shouted, “...Hwa-ok?”
“Yeah, it’s me, Hwa-ok from Gyeongmyeong Arts High!”
“Ahhh! Hwa-ok! What are you doing here?”
“No, that’s what I should be asking you! Yeji, what are you doing here?”
The two seemed to know each other.
Editor-in-Chief Jin asked with great interest, “You two know each other?”
“Yes! We went to the same high school, and...”
Yeji trailed off and blinked. “Hwa-ok, what are you doing here?”
Before Kim Hwa-ok could answer, Editor-in-Chief Jin smiled and said, “Ms. Hwa-ok is the project manager for domestic jewelry brand Daon.”
“...What?”
“Daon is sponsoring the main spread in our Young Magazine next month. So she came to the studio to talk business, and while she was here, we also had a meeting.”
At the editor’s explanation, Yeji’s mouth slowly fell open.
“...My old classmate is Daon’s project manager?”
“Heh. Your friend’s made it, Yeji, haven’t they?”
Daon project manager Kim Hwa-ok wore a smug expression.
Watching her, Yeji’s face turned strange.
The bloodline, the school ties, the old connections that rule the entertainment world.
And among those ties, one of her closest friends, the one who counted as both a personal connection and a school connection...
had made it and come back.